Construction of the FABPS infrastructure about to start at ILVO
Melle, November 3rd 2022 - At ILVO, we are glad to announce that the construction of our infrastructure FABPS (Field Above and Below ground Phenotyping System) is going to start in the coming weeks!
The kick-off is the installation of the ERT system. Are you wondering what it is? ERT stands for Electrical Resistivity Tomography and is a non-invasive system that allows us to monitor soil moisture dynamics in the soil. This information can be used to model root water uptake. How does it work? Pairs of electrodes send an electrical current through the soil, while another pair, placed at a different point, measures the voltage, which depends on the water content of the soil that separates both electrode pairs. These data are then reverse-engineered and interpolated to produce a 2D map of the resistivity. This way, variation in plant water uptake patterns and changes over the season, as plants develop, become apparent. This installation at ILVO will be one of the first field phenotyping installations fully integrating electrical imaging!
Later on, we will install more sensors to enable phenotyping at high spatial and temporal resolution under field conditions. As this infrastructure will be accessible to other research groups and companies, keep an eye on our updates via the EMPHASIS-Belgium newsletters. In the coming weeks, a contact form will be available in the EMPHASIS-Belgium website while we are spreading the word in different events such as e.g. NSG2021 and IPPS2022.