Core Project 3 measures the soil-root zones of crops with minimally or non-invasive sensors and robotic technology concentrating on sensing and predicting root performance in the field. New technologies such as 3D imaging methods gather information on the spatial organization of subsurface soil at the field scale. We aim to assemble the tools to collect and apply soil-root zone data to structural function crop models, yield predictions with the goal of optimizing resource inputs on farms in real time.
Research Videos
Functional Phenotyping of Plant Roots to Achieve Sustainable Crop Production
PhenoRob PhD Student Hamid Rouina provides insights into his research within Core Project 3: The Soil-Root-Zone.
Investigation of Root Traits in Reference to the Root Soil Contact by Root System Sensing
PhenoRob PhD Student Anna Wendel talks about her research within Core Project 3: The Soil-Root-Zone.
Imaging Spatial and Temporal Soil Water Content Variations Using Borehole GPR
PhenoRob PhD Student Lena Lärm talks about her research within Core Project 3: The Soil-Root-Zone.
Investigating Root Growth Using Spectral Electrical Impedance Tomography
PhenoRob PhD Student Valentin Michels talks about his research within Core Project 3: The Soil-Root-Zone.
Plants Control Soil Gas Exchanges Possibly Via Mucilage by A. Haupenthal et al.
PhenoRob PhD Student Adrian Haupenthal talks about his research within Core Project 3: The Soil-Root-Zone.
Soil-root Dynamics and Impacts of Potential Interventions
PhenoRob PhD Student Gina Lopez talks about her research within Core Project 3: The Soil-Root-Zone.
Pore Scale Simulation of Mucilage Drainage
PhenoRob PhD Student Omid Jahromi talks about his research within Core Project 3: The Soil-Root-Zone.
Gabriel Schaaf, University of Bonn & Andrea Schnepf, Forschungszentrum Jülich (13.05.2022)
27th PhenoRob Seminar Series with Gabriel Schaaf (University of Bonn) & Andrea Schnepf (Forschungszentrum Jülich) on “Crop Responses under Phosphate Deficiency: Integration of Plant Physiology in Sensing and Modelling”
Sugar Beet Shoot and Root Phenotypic Plasticity by S. Hadir et al.
This short paper trailer video is based on the following publication: S. Hadir, T. Gaiser, H. Hüging, M. Athmann, D. Pfarr, R. Kemper, F. Ewert, and S. Seidel, “Sugar Beet Shoot and Root Phenotypic Plasticity to Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and Lime Omission,” Agriculture, vol. 11, iss. 1, 2021. Find more info here: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/1/21
Johannes Postma: Crop Improvement From Phenotyping Roots – Highlights Reveal Expanding Opportunities
Johannes A. Postma is a PhenoRob Member and Researcher at the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences (IBG-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich Saoirse R. Tracy, Kerstin A. Nagel, Johannes A. Postma, Heike Fassbender, Anton Wasson, Michelle Watt (2020), Crop Improvement from Phenotyping Roots: Highlights Reveal Expanding Opportunities, Trends in Plant Science, Volume 25, Issue 1, Pages 105-118 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2019.10.015
Roots –Groping in the Dark
Sabine Seidel, Junior Research Group Leader in PhenoRob at the University of Bonn gives a PhenoRob Interdisciplinary Lecture [PILS] on the topic of “Roots – Groping in the Dark”.
Carbon and Nutrient Stocks in Soil – a Challenge to Soil Ecology and Environmental Sensing
Wulf Amelung, Professor of Soil Science and Soil Ecology at the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), University of Bonn and head of the Agrosphere Institute at IBG-3, Forschungszentrum Jülich gives a PhenoRob Interdisciplinary Lecture [PILS] on carbon and nutrient stocks in soil, which pose a challenge to soil ecology and environmental sensing.
Pore-scale simulation of mucilage drainage by Omid Esmaeelipoor Jahromi et al.
This short trailer video is based on the following publication: O. Esmaeelipoor Jahromi, M. Knott, R. K. Janakiram, R. Rahim, and E. Kroener, “Pore-scale simulation of mucilage drainage,” Vadose Zone Journal, vol. e20218, pp. 1-13, 2022. doi:10.1002/vzj2.20218
The Plant Microbiome as Player in Sustainable Crop Production
H. Pagel, FZ Jülich (03.11.2023)
41st Seminar Series with Holger Pagel (FZ Jülich), on “Process-based modeling of matter and energy turnover in soil systems”
Faces of PhenoRob: Adrian Haupenthal
In Faces of PhenoRob, we introduce you to some of PhenoRob’s many members: from senior faculty to PhDs, this is your chance to meet them all and learn more about the work they do! In this video, you’ll meet Adrian Haupenthal, PhenoRob PhD Student.
G. Lobet, Forschungszentrum Jülich (08.09.2023)
38th PhenoRob Seminar Series with Guillaume Lobet (Forschungszentrum Jülich) on “The PhenoRob Digtal Agricultural Avatar”
Metabolic responses to phosphate deficiency
Peter Dörmann, Head of the Institute for Molecular Physiology and Biotechnology of Plants at the University of Bonn gives a PhenoRob Interdisciplinary Lecture [PILS] on “Metabolic responses to phosphate deficiency”.
Robert Koller, Forschungszentrum Jülich (12.05.2023)
36th PhenoRob Seminar Series with Robert Koller (Forschungszentrum Jülich) on “Tomographic methods for deep phenotyping of plant structure and function”.
CPlantBox – A Functional-Structural Plant Model
Andrea Schnepf, Professor of Soil-, Root Systems and Rhizosphere Processes at the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences (IBG-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich and at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Bonn gives a PhenoRob Interdisciplinary Lecture [PILS] on the “Light grey model” CPlantBox.
Faces of PhenoRob: Sabine Seidel
In Faces of PhenoRob, we introduce you to some of PhenoRob’s many members: from senior faculty to PhDs, this is your chance to meet them all and learn more about the work they do! In this video, you’ll meet Sabine Seidel, PhenoRob Junior Research Group Leader. https://www.lap.uni-bonn.de/de/mitarbeiter/webseiten/sabine-seidel
Sabine Seidel, University of Bonn (10.02.2023)
Sabine Seidel, Junior Research Group Leader with the Cluster of Excellence PhenoRob, gives a talk on “Modelling approaches for understanding the processes underlying mixture performance and quantifying agroecosystem services” as part of the PhenoRob Women in Science-Talk Series on February 10, 2023.
A. Schnepf – S. Seidel, University of Bonn (11.11.2022)
32nd PhenoRob Seminar Series with Andrea Schnepf and Sabine Seidel (University of Bonn) on ” Core Project 3: Putting the Soil-Root Zone into Sustainable Crop Production “
Faces of PhenoRob: Matthias Wissuwa
In Faces of PhenoRob, we introduce you to some of PhenoRob’s many members: from senior faculty to PhDs, this is your chance to meet them all and learn more about the work they do! In this video, you’ll meet Matthias Wissuwa, who is a visiting Professor in PhenoRob and in the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), Department of Plant Nutrition, University of Bonn.
A. Klotzsche, FZ Jülich (03.05.2024)
47th Seminar Series with Anja Klotzsche, University of Cologne and Forschungszentrum Jülich, on “Ground penetrating radar for mapping and monitoring soil variables in various agricultural scenarios”.
Rhizotron Facility: Above- and belowground interactions
The Rhizotron Facility at FZJ in Selhausen is a sub-surface research unit that allows plant and root development to be monitored directly from below the soil surface. This enables the scientists to better understand root development and root architecture under different management strategies and environmental conditions.
Modeling microbial dynamics and matter cycling in soil systems
Holger Pagel, Professor for Soil System Modeling at the University of Bonn and the Institute of Bio- and Geoscience of the Forschungszentrum Jülich, gives a PhenoRob Interdisciplinary lecture [PILS] on the topic of “Modeling microbial dynamics and matter cycling in soil systems”.
Faces of PhenoRob: Holger Pagel
In Faces of PhenoRob, we introduce you to some of PhenoRob’s many members: from senior faculty to PhDs, this is your chance to meet them all and learn more about the work they do! In this video, you`ll meet Holger Pagel, an associate member of PhenoRob and Professor and Head of the Soil System Modeling Group at the University of Bonn and at the Forschungszentrum Jülich. Holger is passionate about soil systems and emphasises that soils are the foundation of agricultural production.
J. Dierks, University of Bonn (02.02.2024)
45th Seminar Series with Janina Dierks on ” Plant-soil interactions for sustainable crop production”.
PhenoRob PhD Graduate Talks: Lena Lärm
Lena Lärm gives a talk on “Imaging spatial and temporal soil water content variations of the soil-plant continuum using ground penetrating radar” after successfully completing her PhD as part of PhenoRob. In the PhenoRob PhD Gradaute Talks, recent PhenoRob graduates share about their research within the Cluster of Excellence.
AGRASIM: a new research facility for simulating the effects of climate change on agroecosystems
Nicolas Brüggemann, Professor for Terrestrial Biogeochemistry at the University of Bonn and Head of the research group “Plant-Soil-Atmosphere Exchange Processes” at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, gives a PhenoRob Interdisciplinary lecture [PILS] on the topic of “AGRASIM: a new research facility at IBG-3 for simulating the effects of climate change on agroecosystems”.
Faces of PhenoRob: Janina Dierks
In Faces of PhenoRob, we introduce you to some of PhenoRob’s many members: from senior faculty to PhDs, this is your chance to meet them all and learn more about the work they do! In this video you’ll meet Janina Dierks, Junior Professor of Sustainable Crop Production, Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), University of Bonn.
PhenoRob: Research Priorities to Leverage Smart Digital Technologies for Sustainable Crop Production
Agriculture today faces significant challenges that require new ways of thinking, such as smart digital technologies that enable innovative approaches. However, research gaps limit their potential to improve agriculture. In our PhenoRob paper “Research Priorities to Leverage Smart Digital Technologies for Sustainable Crop Production”, Sabine Seidel, Hugo Storm and Lasse Klingbeil outline an interdisciplinary agenda to address the key research gaps and advance sustainability in agriculture. They identify four critical areas: 1. Monitoring to detect weeds and the status of surrounding crops 2. Modelling to predict the yield impact and ecological impacts 3. Decision making by weighing the yield loss against the ecological impact 4. Model uptake, for example policy support to compensate farmers for ecological benefits Closing these gaps requires strong interdisciplinary collaboration. In PhenoRob, this is achieved through five core experiments, seminar and lecture series, and interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate teaching activities. The paper is available at: H. Storm, S. J. Seidel, L. Klingbeil, F. Ewert, H. Vereecken, W. Amelung, S. Behnke, M. Bennewitz, J. Börner, T. Döring, J. Gall, A. -K. Mahlein, C. McCool, U. Rascher, S. Wrobel, A. Schnepf, C. Stachniss, and H. Kuhlmann, “Research Priorities to Leverage Smart Digital Technologies for Sustainable Crop Production,” European Journal of Agronomy, vol. 156, p. 127178, 2024. doi:10.1016/j.eja.2024.127178 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1161030124000996?via%3Dihub