A cutting-edge, agricultural-oriented research team from Texas Tech University’s Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources June 5 celebrated the installation of a new phenotyping machine, one of only three of its kind in the world and the only one custom-built for the Department of Plant & Soil Science.
Housed in the department’s Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance, the new equipment is designed to capture high-resolution plant images. Located in IGCAST’s Phytotron—home to three greenhouses and five growth chambers—the new machine will rapidly and accurately differentiate phenotypes, or physical traits, in crops.
This advanced imaging capability allows researchers to study plant responses to stressors like drought, wind and heat with unprecedented speed and precision, according to IGCAST Director and President’s Distinguished Professor of Plant Genomics Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella.
