In Brief

The Challenge

Root disease and poor physical status of roots affects plant growth, so root health is critical for sustainable and productive agriculture. But roots are concealed by soil and usually must be excavated to be studied. Most diagnoses cannot be done in field so monitoring root health in real world agricultural systems is still rudimentary. This limits the ability to effectively manage food production systems. Accessible, affordable and robust in-field tools to monitor root health would allow farmers and other practitioners to understand and manage root health properties and help deliver future agricultural production and security.

The Solution

We will develop a novel robust handheld sensor attachment to a smartphone to allow rapid assessment of root health status from recently excavated roots using multispectral imaging techniques. This assessment will be based on a database of hyperspectral images of roots of different crop species and statuses, and refined to a limited number of targeted wavelengths for the low-cost practical solution. The solution will be supported by a smartphone app to link to the curated database of root imagery maintained by the RootCheck team, where root health status can be identified using a constantly updated machine learning model. This will put the ability to assess root health and physiology directly into the hands of farmers without needing costly and slower lab analysis. 

The Team

  • Team Lead: Dr Richard Nair, Trinity College Dublin 
  • Team Co-Lead: Dr Saoirse Tracy, University College Dublin 

Societal Impact Champion

  • Dr Gillian Young, Agri-food and Biosciences Institute