Evaluation of Dynamic Growth Responses of Maize Hybrids via Field-Based Time-Lapse Photography

During phenotyping studies traits are often only measured at a limited number of time points. Time-lapse photography enables study of plant growth rates and environmental responses at high temporal resolution. Most studies that have employed this technology have been conducted in greenhouses or other controlled environments. Unfortunately, plant performance under controlled conditions is typically poorly correlated with performance in the field. To investigate the potential value of time-lapse photography for studying plant growth and responses in agronomically relevant environments, a diverse set of maize hybrids was grown in a field site in Nebraska and imaged via time-lapse photography during most of the growing season. Trait values extracted from the time-lapse photography exhibited high correlation to ground truth (manually measured traits), suggesting the utility of time-lapse photography for field-based phenotyping.