EMPHASIS: European infrastructure for multi-scale plant phenotyping and simulation for food security in a changing climate

Quantitative analysis of structure and function of plants has become the major bottleneck in basic plant research and applied use of plants in breeding or agricultural management. This is particularly important for sustainable intensification of crop production to ensure the amount and quality of plant biomass for human nutrition and industry in times of climate change. In recent years, significant interdisciplinary approaches have been started to establish plant phenotyping infrastructure with non-invasive methods that allow to quickly and non-invasively assessing the condition and properties of plants in the laboratory, greenhouse or field, make these data accessible through data and computational services and allow data reuse for meta-analysis or modelling.

In this presentation, we will outline the recent developments to integrate plant phenotyping across scales from lab to field including common data management approaches. The ESFRI research infrastructure EMPHASIS is developing a pan European infrastructure based of the portfolio of existing national plant phenotyping centers. The goal is to: i) provide a instrumented facilities for user access for quantitative trait assessment, ii) link data acquisition with data management and modelling, iii) develop, evaluate and disseminate knowledge and novel technologies. We will showcase phenotyping of quantitative traits under controlled and specifically field conditions providing novel inside on plant environment interaction for example in dedicated free air CO2 enrichment facilities and illustrate the development of pan-European information system making these data reusable. Finally, we will introduce the latest activities of IPPN e.V. is a networking platform linking the plant phenotyping centers and enabling close interaction across the globe.