Large-scale evaluation of plant growth in Arabidopsis thaliana by non-invasive image analysis

Analysis of plant growth is a necessary step for the evaluation of plant performance and productivity. For the study of plant performance in Arabidopsis thaliana, a number of mutant collections is available, but a comprehensive methodology to monitor their growth behaviour is lacking. We demonstrate that a novel system, comprising of digital video and image analysis can determine plant size non-destructively by measuring plant leaf area of A. thaliana ecotypes, Columbia 0 and Landsberg erecta, under short and long day conditions. This system provides a non-intrusive method for the monitoring and quantification of plant growth and the evaluation of growth rates. It is applicable for large-scale approaches, such as screening for alteration in growth (rate) in mutant collections. This new system provides the tool for a very accurate determination of individual plant growth rate, even during early developmental stages, requiring as little time as 1 week.