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Updated: Jul 7, 2025
10:20
Evaluation of Photosynthetic Behaviors by Simultaneous Measurements of Leaf Reflectance and Chlorophyll Fluorescence Analyses
Published on: August 9, 2019
12.7K
Rapid spatial assessment of leaf-absorbed irradiance
Jiayu Zhang1, Elias Kaiser1, Leo F M Marcelis1
1Horticulture and Product Physiology, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University & Research, 6708 PB, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
The New Phytologist
|December 21, 2023
Summary
A new thermal imaging method accurately measures absorbed light in plants. This technique helps interpret plant traits in high-throughput phenotyping, advancing plant science research.
Area of Science:
- Plant Physiology
- Agricultural Science
- Imaging Technology
Background:
- High-throughput phenotyping uses imaging to assess plant traits.
- Accurate interpretation of traits like photosynthesis requires knowing absorbed irradiance.
- Current methods cannot rapidly measure absorbed irradiance in complex plant structures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a rapid, non-invasive method for measuring absorbed irradiance in plants.
- To enable more accurate interpretation of image-based plant phenotyping data.
Main Methods:
- Developed a method using thermal imaging and a leaf energy balance model.
- Applied short light pulses to induce transient leaf temperature changes.
- Fitted the model to temperature changes to derive absorbed irradiance.
Main Results:
- Successfully validated the method against point measurements in multiple plant species.
- Generated absorbed irradiance maps from thermal images (thermograms).
- The method demonstrated proportionality between temperature transients and absorbed irradiance.
Conclusions:
- The developed method provides a feasible way to measure absorbed irradiance in plants.
- This technique enhances the interpretation of imaging-derived plant traits.
- The method is adaptable to existing high-throughput phenotyping platforms.
