Romano, L.E.; Iovane, M.; Izzo, L.G.; Aronne, G. A Machine-Learning Method to Assess Growth Patterns in Plants of the Family Lemnaceae. Plants2022, 11, 1910.
Romano, L.E.; Iovane, M.; Izzo, L.G.; Aronne, G. A Machine-Learning Method to Assess Growth Patterns in Plants of the Family Lemnaceae. Plants 2022, 11, 1910.
Romano, L.E.; Iovane, M.; Izzo, L.G.; Aronne, G. A Machine-Learning Method to Assess Growth Patterns in Plants of the Family Lemnaceae. Plants2022, 11, 1910.
Romano, L.E.; Iovane, M.; Izzo, L.G.; Aronne, G. A Machine-Learning Method to Assess Growth Patterns in Plants of the Family Lemnaceae. Plants 2022, 11, 1910.
Abstract
Numerous new technologies have been implemented in image analysis methods that help researchers withdraw scientific conclusions from biological phenomena. Plants of the family Lemnaceae (duckweeds) are the smallest flowering plants in the world, and biometric measurements of single plants and their growth rate are highly challenging. Although the use of software for digital image analysis has changed the way scientists extract phenomenological data (also for studies on duckweeds), the procedure is often not wholly automated and sometimes relies on the intervention of a human operator. Such a constraint can limit the objectivity of the measurements and generally slows down the time required to produce scientific data. Here is the need to implement image analysis software with artificial intelligence that can substitute the human operator. In this paper, we present a new method to study the growth rates of the plants of the Lemnaceae family based on the application of machine learning procedures to digital image analysis. The method is compared to existing analogical and computer-operated procedures. Results showed that our method drastically reduces the time consumption of the human operator while retaining a high correlation in the growth rates measured with other procedures As expected, machine learning methods applied to digital image analysis can overtake the constraints of measuring growth rates of very small plants and might help duckweeds gain worldwide attention thanks to their great nutritional qualities and biological plasticity.
Computer Science and Mathematics, Mathematical and Computational Biology
Copyright:
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