Texas A&M scientists are applying the imaging technology to develop crops with deeper roots and stronger drought resilience.
A team of scientists led by Texas A&M AgriLife is using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine crop roots in an effort to develop crops with stronger and deeper root systems.
The team from Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Harvard Medical School, ABQMR Inc. and the Soil Health Institute developed a novel MRI-based root phenotyping system to nondestructively acquire high-resolution images of plant roots growing in soil, and established the Texas A&M Roots Lab to further develop this technology as a new tool for assessing crop root traits. It is part of the Rhizosphere Observations Optimizing Terrestrial Sequestration (ROOTS) program funded through U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program.
Nithya Rajan, AgriLife Research crop physiologist and agroecologist in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Department of Soil and Crop Sciences is leading this multidisciplinary project team.
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