Root Image Processing Lab
The Root Image
Analyzer has moved to its new home.
Welcome to the Root Image Processing Laboratory (RIPL) at Michigan
State University. The RIPL is a PC computer based root
research facility established for the purpose of quantifying plant
root systems. Software has been developed to quantify 16
morphological parameters for roots which have been washed free of
soil. This algorithm is the WR-RIPL version 2.0. A second algorithm
used to quantify 16 morphological parameters of roots video recorded
at surfaces of minirhizotrons in field experiments is the MR-RIPL,
version 2.0.
Contact persons:
- Administrative:
- Dr. Alvin Smucker
Professor
Crop and Soil Sciences Department
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Telephone: (517) 355-8370
Fax: (517) 355-0270
Email: smucker@pilot.msu.edu
Goals
- To develop a system for automatic quantitative analysis of plant
root images.
- The analysis includes measurements of root length and widths for
a sequence of video images.
- The results are used for analyzing root growth and death rates,
and for comparing different agricultural treatments.
- The images are video recorded in the field or in the laboratory;
digitized into greyscale images and processed.
- For one typical experiment, the number of images to be analyzed
can reach several thousand per day.
- MR-RIPL is the program for processing of the minirhizotron
images. Typical image has complex background of soil and roots are
bright elongated objects.
- WR-RIPL is the program for processing of the washroot
images. Typical image has bright background and roots are dark
elongated objects.
Software