An overview of 3D plant phenotyping methods

Currently there is quite a significant amount of hype regarding 3D reconstructions of plants. We have received a number of requests for our sensor and many people have ideas on how to measure plants in 3D or are asking us what is currently the best way and method to answer their question and application. The reason for the hype is that first the ‘sensor-to-plant’ concept is becoming increasingly more and more important. It is less expensive compared to conveyor based solutions and enables field phenotyping with higher throughput. In order to assess plants morphological information of a plant that is fixed, 3D plant phenotyping is the method of choice.  Moreover, 3D plant phenotyping also allows researchers to gather plant architecture which is fundamental to improvement of traits such as light interception of plants. Lastly, many optical sensors that use spectral information such as hyperspectral or thermal imaging strongly depend on the inclination and distance of the plant organ, hence 3D information is ...