THE DELTA-T AREA METER ACCURATELY MEASURES ROOT LENGTHS AND AREAS.

THE DELTA-T AREA METER ACCURATELY MEASURES ROOT LENGTHS AND AREAS. PLANT GROWTH MODELING EFFORTS ARE PRESENTLY DI DISCOURAGED BY AVAILABLE TEDIOUS AND TIME-CONSUMING PR PROCEDURES FOR QUANTIFYING ROOT GROWTH. THE KEY STEP NEEDEDFOR AUTOMATION IS SEPERATION OF LIVE ROOTS FROM DEAD ROOTS AND OTHER ORGANIC DEBRIS IN A FORM THAT THE AREA METER CAN RECOGNIZE. IT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF PHASE I RESEARCH SUGGESTEDIN THIS PROPOSAL TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF SUCH A AUTOMATION. A NUMBER OF FLUOROCHROME DYES ARE AVAILABLE WH WHICH CAUSE FLUORESCENCE IN LIVING PLANT CELLS (BUT NOT DEAD) WHEN ILLUMINATED BY A UV LIGHT SOURCE. WE WILL INVESTIGATE ADAPTING THE AREA METER TO ACCURATELY RESPOND TOINTENSIFIED EMISSIONS OF SUCH FLUORESCENCE. RESEARCH WILL INCLUDE TESTING VARIOUS FLUOROCHROMES FOR USABLE EMMISSIONS MODIFYING THE AREA METER WITH CHROMATIC FILTERS ON BLACK ANDWHITE COLOR TV CAMERA LENSES, DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE UV LIGHT SOURCES, AND INVESTIGATING APPLICABILITY TO ROOTS OF VARIOUSPLANT SPECIES.