PREPs: An Open-Source Software for High-Throughput Field Plant Phenotyping.

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Computer Science
• Remote Sensing

Background:

• Field-based plant phenotyping is crucial for crop improvement.
• Traditional methods are often labor-intensive and time-consuming.
• Advanced image analysis requires specialized GIS and programming skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce Precision Plots Analyzer (PREPs), an open-source software for field-based plant phenotyping.
• To enable extraction of phenotypic traits from UAV and tractor-based imagery without requiring GIS or programming expertise.
• To demonstrate the utility of PREPs through practical use cases in crop monitoring.

Main Methods:

• Development of PREPs software using Window.NET for 64-bit Windows systems.
• Utilizing orthomosaic and digital surface model (DSM) images generated by Structure-from-Motion/Multi-View-Stereo (SfM-MVS) tools.
• Application of PREPs in three use cases: sugar beet variety monitoring, mixed potato crop varietal analysis, and tractor-based potato phenotyping.

Main Results:

• PREPs successfully extracted phenotypic traits (crop height, coverage, volume index) on a per-microplot basis.
• Detected significant differences among sugar beet and potato varieties.
• Demonstrated a strong correlation between manually measured and UAV-estimated crop height.
• Precisely estimated crop traits using both UAV and tractor-mounted camera array data.

Conclusions:

• PREPs software provides an accessible, user-friendly solution for field-based plant phenotyping.
• The software empowers users without programming or GIS backgrounds to perform advanced image analysis for crop trait extraction.
• PREPs is a valuable tool for accelerating crop research and development through efficient phenotyping.