3D Plant Root Skeleton Detection and Extraction

Abstract

Plant roots typically exhibit a highly complex and dense architecture, incorporating numerous slender lateral roots and branches, which significantly hinders the precise capture and modeling of the entire root system. Additionally, roots often lack sufficient texture and color information, making it difficult to identify and track root traits using visual methods. Previous research on roots has been largely confined to 2D studies; however, exploring the 3D architecture of roots is crucial in botany. Since roots grow in real 3D space, 3D phenotypic information is more critical for studying genetic traits and their impact on root development. We have introduced a 3D root skeleton extraction method that efficiently derives the 3D architecture of plant roots from a few images. This method includes the detection and matching of lateral roots, triangulation to extract the skeletal structure of lateral roots, and the integration of lateral and primary roots. We developed a highly complex root dataset and tested our method on it. The extracted 3D root skeletons showed considerable similarity to the ground truth, validating the effectiveness of the model. This method can play a significant role in automated breeding robots. Through precise 3D root structure analysis, breeding robots can better identify plant phenotypic traits, especially root structure and growth patterns, helping practitioners select seeds with superior root systems. This automated approach not only improves breeding efficiency but also reduces manual intervention, making the breeding process more intelligent and efficient, thus advancing modern agriculture.