“HTPPs and open-source image processing tools for maize foliar disease assessments.” International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Principal Investigator Shawn Carlisle Kefauver. (University of Barcelona) “…to develop and validate new, reliable, and high throughput field-based phenotyping tools for foliar diseases of maize and can be encapsulated in four outputs”: (1) A new high throughput phenotyping tool to objectively and quantitatively assess high priority foliar disease traits in maize with potential application for maize disease trait breeding programs in developing countries; (2) High precision image based phenotypic score and data quality assessment for the efficient dissection of the genetic architecture of the resistance for the selected diseases; (3) Capacity to clearly dissect and quantify mixed foliar disease infections in the field and; (4) Open source software for processing and optimization of HTPP protocols.
For the identification and scoring of mixed maize foliar disease symptoms from leaf-level images, specifically targeting MLN as well as northern corn leaf blight (NCLB), grey leaf spot (GLS) and maize streak virus (MSV), a custom Java-based plugin in the open-source Fiji image analysis platform will be developed to perform pre-processing operations optimized for variable light conditions, followed by particle-type segmentation analysis of the maize foliar disease symptoms.”
Shawn C. Kefauver 