ALPHA: A High Throughput System for Quantifying Growth in Aquatic Plants

ABSTRACT The need for more sustainable agricultural systems is becoming increasingly apparent. The global demand for agricultural products—food, feed, fuel and fiber—will continue to increase as the global population continues to grow. This challenge is compounded by climate change. Not only does a...

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Main Authors: Kassidy A. Robinson, Victoria Augoustides, Tanaka Madenyika, Ryan C. Sartor
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-03-01
Series:Plant Direct
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/pld3.70048
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author Kassidy A. Robinson
Victoria Augoustides
Tanaka Madenyika
Ryan C. Sartor
author_facet Kassidy A. Robinson
Victoria Augoustides
Tanaka Madenyika
Ryan C. Sartor
author_sort Kassidy A. Robinson
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT The need for more sustainable agricultural systems is becoming increasingly apparent. The global demand for agricultural products—food, feed, fuel and fiber—will continue to increase as the global population continues to grow. This challenge is compounded by climate change. Not only does a changing climate make it difficult to maintain stable yields but current agricultural systems are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and continue to drive the problem further. Therefore, future agricultural systems must not only increase production but also significantly decrease negative environmental impacts. One approach to addressing this is to begin breeding and cultivating new plant species that have fundamental sustainability advantages over our existing crops. The Lemnaceae, commonly known as duckweeds, are one family of plants that have potential to increase output and reduce the negative environmental impacts of agricultural production. Herein we describe the Automated Lab‐scale PHenotyping Apparatus, ALPHA, for high‐throughput phenotyping of Lemnaceae. ALPHA is being used for selective breeding of one species, Lemna gibba, toward the goal of creating a new crop for use in sustainable agricultural systems. ALPHA can be used on many small aquatic plant species to assess growth rates in different environmental conditions. A proof of principle use case is demonstrated where ALPHA is used to determine saltwater tolerance of six different clones of L. gibba.
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issn 2475-4455
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publishDate 2025-03-01
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series Plant Direct
spelling doaj-art-6bc4a02adfd34c11858d86f2c3039f7d2025-08-20T03:14:12ZengWileyPlant Direct2475-44552025-03-0193n/an/a10.1002/pld3.70048ALPHA: A High Throughput System for Quantifying Growth in Aquatic PlantsKassidy A. Robinson0Victoria Augoustides1Tanaka Madenyika2Ryan C. Sartor3Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry North Carolina State University Raleigh NC USADepartment of Biochemistry and Biophysics University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC USADepartment of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry North Carolina State University Raleigh NC USADepartment of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry North Carolina State University Raleigh NC USAABSTRACT The need for more sustainable agricultural systems is becoming increasingly apparent. The global demand for agricultural products—food, feed, fuel and fiber—will continue to increase as the global population continues to grow. This challenge is compounded by climate change. Not only does a changing climate make it difficult to maintain stable yields but current agricultural systems are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and continue to drive the problem further. Therefore, future agricultural systems must not only increase production but also significantly decrease negative environmental impacts. One approach to addressing this is to begin breeding and cultivating new plant species that have fundamental sustainability advantages over our existing crops. The Lemnaceae, commonly known as duckweeds, are one family of plants that have potential to increase output and reduce the negative environmental impacts of agricultural production. Herein we describe the Automated Lab‐scale PHenotyping Apparatus, ALPHA, for high‐throughput phenotyping of Lemnaceae. ALPHA is being used for selective breeding of one species, Lemna gibba, toward the goal of creating a new crop for use in sustainable agricultural systems. ALPHA can be used on many small aquatic plant species to assess growth rates in different environmental conditions. A proof of principle use case is demonstrated where ALPHA is used to determine saltwater tolerance of six different clones of L. gibba.https://doi.org/10.1002/pld3.70048duckweedhigh‐throughput phenotypingLemna gibbaselective breedingsustainable agriculture
spellingShingle Kassidy A. Robinson
Victoria Augoustides
Tanaka Madenyika
Ryan C. Sartor
ALPHA: A High Throughput System for Quantifying Growth in Aquatic Plants
Plant Direct
duckweed
high‐throughput phenotyping
Lemna gibba
selective breeding
sustainable agriculture
title ALPHA: A High Throughput System for Quantifying Growth in Aquatic Plants
title_full ALPHA: A High Throughput System for Quantifying Growth in Aquatic Plants
title_fullStr ALPHA: A High Throughput System for Quantifying Growth in Aquatic Plants
title_full_unstemmed ALPHA: A High Throughput System for Quantifying Growth in Aquatic Plants
title_short ALPHA: A High Throughput System for Quantifying Growth in Aquatic Plants
title_sort alpha a high throughput system for quantifying growth in aquatic plants
topic duckweed
high‐throughput phenotyping
Lemna gibba
selective breeding
sustainable agriculture
url https://doi.org/10.1002/pld3.70048
work_keys_str_mv AT kassidyarobinson alphaahighthroughputsystemforquantifyinggrowthinaquaticplants
AT victoriaaugoustides alphaahighthroughputsystemforquantifyinggrowthinaquaticplants
AT tanakamadenyika alphaahighthroughputsystemforquantifyinggrowthinaquaticplants
AT ryancsartor alphaahighthroughputsystemforquantifyinggrowthinaquaticplants