Quantification of Thrips Damage Using Ilastik and ImageJ Fiji.

Area of Science:

• Agricultural entomology
• Plant pathology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Quantifying insect damage is crucial for assessing plant resistance.
• Screening for host plant resistance against thrips often relies on measuring total damaged leaf area.
• Accurate and objective damage assessment methods are needed for efficient screening.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel, objective method for analyzing thrips damage on leaf discs.
• To enable efficient screening of plant lines for resistance against thrips.
• To validate the method using two key thrips species and multiple plant lines.

Main Methods:

• Utilized free software: Ilastik for image analysis and ImageJ for quantification.
• Developed a protocol for analyzing thrips-induced damage on leaf discs.
• Applied the protocol to screen over 40 Capsicum lines against specific thrips species.

Main Results:

• The developed protocol provides an objective quantification of thrips damage.
• The method allows for efficient screening of large numbers of plant samples.
• Successfully applied to differentiate resistance levels in Capsicum lines against Western Flower Thrips and Onion Thrips.

Conclusions:

• The Ilastik and ImageJ-based method offers an objective and efficient approach for quantifying insect damage.
• This protocol is valuable for identifying host plant resistance in crops like Capsicum.
• Facilitates high-throughput screening for thrips resistance in plant breeding programs.