A large-scale award will strengthen Norwegian knowledge of plant genes and environmental adaptation

With NOK 60 million from the Research Council of Norway, NMBU and its partners will now be able to increase their efforts in important basic research in plant biology and plant genetics. These efforts are crucial in the work to develop more robust plant varieties and new ways of cultivation.

The Research Council of Norway recently awarded NOK 60 million to establish a national infrastructure for so-called ‘plant phenotyping’. Phenotyping is the registration of the characteristics of an individual, such as a plant, which can either be observed with the eye or using technology.

The initiative will significantly strengthen basic research in plant biology and plant genetics. Specifically, we will now be able to map the plants' genes in an even more detailed way, and study their adaptation to changing cultivation methods. The upgrade is necessary to provide essential research facilities for all plant research in Norway.

Every second year, the Research Council of Norway announces funding for research infrastructure of national importance, and a total of NOK 1.3 billion was recently allocated to 28 major projects.

Head of the PheNo consortium, Professor of Plant Genetics Morten Lillemo at NMBU, explains that the consortium is the result of collaboration between NMBU, the University of Oslo, the University of Tromsø, NIBIO and NTNU.

“The PheNo partners will establish several types of research facilities, such as phenotyping under controlled conditions, in growth chambers and greenhouses, and for phenotyping in field trials. In addition, equipment for phenotyping seeds will be established. A data infrastructure will also be established,” says Lillemo.

In connection with the application process, a thorough investigation of the potential for use and future customer base was carried out.

“We mapped the activity at the various universities and at NIBIO, and found a large number of research projects and courses at university level where it would be relevant to utilise this infrastructure.”

Morten Lilemo i kornåker — Morten Lillemo **Photo**: Janne Karin Brodin

Upgrading outdoors and in greenhouses at NMBU

At NMBU, the new investments will include a TraitFinder, a multispectral laser scanner.

“ The scanner can scan plants in greenhouses and automatically retrieves 20 different parameters, such as plant height, number of leaves and multispectral information such as chlorophyll content and nutritional status. And with time series data from scanning plants throughout the experiment, we also get the time dynamics,” says Lillemo.

The scanner is a user-friendly device that is also well suited for teaching and, according to Lillemo, will spice up plant teaching in a good and visual way.

There will also be made investments in various types of handheld sensors for phenotyping plants in greenhouses and out in the field, including measurements of photosynthesis and plant physiological parameters.

“In addition, at SKP's experimental field at Vollebekk, we will be rolling out a network of wireless sensors that will be placed in the ground in the most important experimental areas. They will continuously log data on temperature and soil moisture.”

“We already have such sensors in use in the polytunnels at Vollebekk and have good experience with them.”

Drones are widely used over the research fields in the field to take different types of images. The purchase of new drones is also planned.

“The drones will not only be for RGB and multispectral phenotyping, but we will also invest in drones with hyperspectral and infrared cameras,” explains Lillemo.

On the mechanical side, a new harvester will be purchased for the trials with forage crops. To run the infrastructure, two new engineering positions will be created, as well as a centre manager for the whole of PheNo. NMBU will also fund a three-year postdoctoral position.

Start-up in January and in the field as soon as it grows

“This new infrastructure has been in the pipeline for a number of years, and the application was almost funded in the previous round of grants. So there was a good basis for success this time.”

According to the Research Council of Norway, infrastructure funding is necessary for Norway to succeed in restructuring, creation and innovation, which PheNo became a part of.

“We have a five-year establishment phase with a planned start-up as early as December, and we aim to be able to offer the first phenotyping services in the field at NMBU in the spring,” says Lillemo.