Lemnatec facility for small plants


Lemnatec facility for small plants

Plants (e.g., Arabidopsis, Brachypodium; max. height of 40 cm) are cultivated in individual pots (max. 10 cm plant diameter), trays of 6 (max. 4.5 cm plant diameter), or trays of 12 (max. 3 cm plant diameter) in a phytochamber with controlled conditions (temperature range: 10 to 40 °C, relative humidity: 40 to 75 %, illumination: 120 – 500 μmole/m2s PAR). Pots or trays are placed in carriers transported on a conveyor belt system throughout the growth chamber with a (far) infrared-sensitive CCD camera installed inside for thermography (leaf temperature), and are moved to three consecutive imaging boxes (outside the chamber) for fluorescence imaging (excitation: 400-500 nm, emission: 520-750 nm), visible imaging (390-750 nm), and near infrared imaging (1450-1550 nm) using in each case top view and side view CCD cameras (with multiple side views possible). Before re-entering the growth chamber carrier weights are recorded and plants are watered (or supplied with nutrient solution) on a balance/watering station. The platform accommodates up to 384 individual carriers allowing the parallel cultivation / monitoring of max. 384 / 2304 / 4608 individuals grown in pots, trays of 6, or trays of 12, respectively. All operations are automated and are computer controlled.

Figure 1: Climatized phytochamber for 384 - 4608 small plants, max. 30cm height, max. 3 - 9,5 cm width