Quantification of roots by the use of NIR hyperspectral imaging and chemometrics

Estimation of root system development is often based on the soil coring method which allows repeated measurements during the growing season in the field as well as in different soil horizons. However, this method is limited due to the time needed to extract roots from soil cores and to manually sort them from crop residues before quantification. To avoid this tedious sorting step and remove operator subjectivity, a procedure based on NIR Hyperspectral Imaging (NIR-HSI) has been developed.