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RTIP: A FULLY AUTOMATED ROOT TIP TRACKER FOR MEASURING PLANT GROWTH WITH INTERMITTENT PERTURBATIONS
Deniz Kavzak Ufuktepe1, Kannappan Palaniappan1, Melissa Elmali2
1Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Dept., University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
Proceedings. International Conference on Image Processing
|April 12, 2021
Summary
RTip, a novel plant root growth tracker, quantifies root velocity with high accuracy and low variance. This automated tool effectively handles perturbations, outperforming existing methods in plant phenotyping.
Area of Science:
- Plant Biology
- Biophysics
- Image Analysis
Background:
- Accurate quantification of plant root growth is crucial for phenotyping.
- Existing tracking algorithms struggle with image distortions and experimental perturbations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate RTip, a fully automated tool for precise plant root growth velocity measurement.
- To assess RTip's performance against established tracking algorithms, particularly under challenging conditions.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing high-resolution microscopy image sequences for sub-pixel accuracy.
- Implementing an automated tracker (RTip) designed for high-throughput plant phenotyping.
- Evaluating RTip's ability to auto-skip perturbations and recover from occlusions.
Main Results:
- RTip achieved the highest accuracy and lowest variance (localization jitter) in root growth velocity measurements.
- RTip outperformed six other tracking algorithms, including Discriminative Correlation Filter Tracker and Deeper and Wider Siamese Network.
- RTip demonstrated unique capabilities in automatically detecting and recovering from perturbation events of varying durations.
Conclusions:
- RTip offers a robust and highly accurate solution for automated plant root growth velocity quantification.
- The tool's ability to handle perturbations enhances its utility in high-throughput plant phenotyping.
- RTip represents a significant advancement in plant imaging analysis for research applications.
