Benchtop Root System Analyzer - EM LK-1200

Eco-mind LK-1200 Benchtop Root Analyzer. The LK-1200 analyzer is designed for digital rotational imaging of the root system/crown after rinsing. The analyzer can be used for continuous rotational imaging of the rinsed root system from any angle (1° steps, freely adjustable intervals), analyzing hundreds of (whole) plant root systems per day. The LK-1200 Benchtop Root Analyzer is especially suited for high throughput analysis of root crowns. With professional control software (OS Windows) and image analysis software, the LK-1200 can be used to conveniently measure length, diameter, area, surface and topology of entire root systems, root crowns or individual root branches up to a height/length of 40 cm and a diameter of 30 cm. With the included barcode scanner, the LK-1250 can quickly and accuratly assign the name/number of imaged root samples to the image analysis software. For more information on how the LK-1200 Root Analyzer works, please refer to the publication by Seethepalli et al. (2020, see reference and potential applications below) and the related RhizoVision website on crown root phenotyping. The LK-1200 is an advanced version of the RhizoVision Crown hardware, featuring rotational imaging and advanced imaging qualities. 

An even more advanced version of the Benchtop Root Analyzer software is now available that allows you to perform root analysis on 3D images (LK-1200 Pro).

Request a quote, and/or get in contact to discuss the details of this versatile pipeline for crown root analysis.

The upper part of the root system that is connected to the shoot and can be dug out of the topsoil ("sovelomics") is called the root crown. Root crown phenotypic analysis can be used for marker-assisted breeding, genetic mapping, and to gain insight into the impact of root system architectures on soil resource acquisition. The LK-1200 is equipped with optimized imaging protocols and image analysis programs tailored for efficient, consistent and reliable assessment of root crown phenotypes based on the RhizoVision Crown platform. This platform combines an imaging unit, image acquisition software and image analysis software that have been fine-tuned to extract measurements from a large number of root crowns. The hardware uses a backlit, monochrome machine vision camera to capture silhouettes of root systems, while the software simplifies the process with easy-to-use graphical interfaces for image acquisition and analysis. The open source softawrae RhizoVision Explorer offers a 'Whole Root' mode specifically designed for root crown analysis. It accepts high contrast grayscale images or binary segmented images from other software as input. RhizoVision Crown, a platform provided by RhizoVision, combines a monochrome camera with a backlight to capture the outline of roots. If desired, the RhizoVision Imager can be used in conjunction with the system, allowing image capture triggered by a barcode and saving the file with the corresponding barcode ID. RhizoVision Explorer excels at quickly, consistently and accurately extracting root features from large image sets. The RhizoVision Analyzer, on which the Root Analyzer is based, was physically validated using copper wire and tested with over 10k simulated images of dicot and monocot root systems to ensure accuracy. The platform was then used to phenotype soybean and wheat root crowns, including approximately 2,800 soybean (Glycine max) root crowns and nearly 1,800 wheat (Triticum aestivum) root crowns. Principal component analysis revealed similar correlations between traits in both species, but different heritabilities, highlighting the need to account for species and population variation. The integrated LK-1200 benchtop root analyzer system significantly streamlines high-throughput phenotyping of crop root crowns and sets a new benchmark for plant phenotyping platforms targeting washed root systems / root crowns.

For details, please refer to:

Seethepalli, A., Guo, H., Liu, X., Griffiths, M., Almtarfi, H., Li, Z., ... & York, L. M. (2020). RhizoVision crown: an integrated hardware and software platform for root crown phenotyping. Plant Phenomics, 2020:3074916. DOI: 10.34133/2020/3074916

Link to Rhizovision: https://www.rhizovision.com/imaging/root-crown-phenotyping