Minirhizotron Systems

VSI-BARTZ Minirhizotron camera systems - Root and mycorrhiza development are key for plant performance and affect many ecosystem and biogeochemical processes. Observing the development of root systems is thus key to understand plant performance in natural and production ecosystems (trees and crops), and an important mean to unravel water, carbon and nutrient dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems. Non-destructive images of roots and the rhizosphere can be used to determine a variety of parameters (under controlled or abiotic and biotic stress conditions) including root system development, observation of growth and turnover patterns, root distribution per depth (root system architecture, RSA), occurrence of mycorrhizal root tips and hyphae development, and even rhizobia development and soil fauna observations. However, observing this "hidden half" of ecosystems is not easy, being covered in the soil. Minirhizotron (MR) systems are a qualitative and quantitative observation tool to study root and hyphal growth, longevity and distribution in situ or mesocosms experiments. The MR system is based on transparent tubes (MR-T) inserted tightly into manually or mechanically established holes. Subsequently an minirhizotron imaging device is inserted into the tube in order to record images of roots and rhizosphere seen through the MR tube walls. The images are then recorded and processed by a control unit. Capture Full-HD images of living roots and mycorrhizal hyphae in soil to monitor growth, turnover and root system development over multiple seasons with the VSI-Bartz Minirhizotron systems!

1. MANUAL MR Camera System VSI MS-190
2. SEMI-AUTOMATIC MR Camera System (for rhizotron facilities) VSI MS-300
3. R&D Project: Development of an autonomous flatbed root scanner system for permanent installation in situ (2019.2020)
4. R&D project: Development of an autonomous root camera system for permanent installation in MR tubes (2019-2020)

2018 brought about exciting changes both for Vienna Scientific Instruments and the users of minirhizotron camera systems.  In our quest to provide our customers the best minirhizotron products available we are very pleased to announce that we are now working in conjunction with the long-term MR camera experts at Bartz Technology Corporation, California, USA. We have now integrated the advanced VSI hardware MR systems with the convenient, Windows-based ICAP software of BARTZ in the MS-190 camera system  and will, together, continue to provide reliable and affordable MR hardware and software solutions to root and rhizosphere researchers world-wide.

The VSI-Bartz minirhizotron camera systems are composed of modular units and specific features can be combined to highly customised devices -fitting both scientific needs and funding situation. Our minirhizotron cameras are available as fixed diameter systems for MR tubes >5.4 cm inner diameter – allowing for continued use of available tubes and to easily upgrade older / scanner-based imaging systems. Imaging systems for non-standard tube diameters can be realised upon request. The imaging process can be semi-automatised including tube recognition and imaging of pre-set or previously imaged locations, but classical systems with manual indexing ("Smucker handle") are also available. In any case, precision in terms of imaging quality and repeatability of imaging locations and ease-of-use is key. All imaging systems allow to capture Full HD / UHD images of selected areas (around the tube surface), easily allowing to adapt the size of the monitored MR-T surface to research needs and resources available for image analyses. Small image size allows to align root length observations from MR-Ts e.g. to biomass sampling depth (e.g. 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, ...) without recutting images. Imaging a depth gradient at a time, on predefined sides of the MR-T, is recommended when using angled MR-Ts - allowing for more accurate soil depth determination then in other systems own the market. The minirhizotron imaging systems are either programmed and operated by a handheld or a laptop (Windows OS, Bartz ICAP program). Devices are powered by batteries (>10 h operation time @ 10-30°C) and/or power line (110-230V). Image naming follows the ICAP-scheme (ExpName_T001_L001_Date_Time_001_Ope.jpg) to be compatible with analyses software world-wide (see below).