About this Provider
APPN is a coordinated network of nine national research infrastructure nodes hosted by renowned plant research organisations across Australia. We provide open access to state-of-the-art plant phenotyping technologies, underpinned by multidisciplinary expertise and FAIR data principles, to enable research excellence and innovation, and to accelerate research output.
Our advanced imaging technologies and climate sensors enable researchers to study plants under different conditions (e.g. drought, heat or nutrient stress) as they can be grown in semi and fully controlled greenhouses, growth rooms and field environments. A variety of sensing technologies (e.g. RGB, fluorescence, hyperspectral, LiDAR) are available in APPN’s enclosed environments, or via airborne or ground-based vehicles in field or remote sites.
Semi and fully automated systems accelerate the speed, detail and accuracy of crop performance measurement across all growth stages. Sophisticated experimental design, data management and analysis of experimental data helps researchers and industry understand and address the biggest challenges facing Australian agriculture.
Contact Information
- University of Adelaide, Waite Campus School of Agriculture, Food & Wine Building WT81 Hartley Grove, Urrbrae SA 5064 Australia
TYPE OF CLIENTS
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The APPN team includes specialists in raising plants, managing controlled growth environments, advanced imaging systems, mechatronics, computer science and data science.
Our infrastructure is made available to academic and commercial plant scientists from Australia and around the world on a fee-based basis, to help address complex problems in plant and agricultural sciences.
APPN also makes its infrastructure and expertise available to early career researchers through our Postgraduate Internship Awards (PIA) program. This program is open to researchers enrolled at any Australian University and provides up to $10,000 of infrastructure access to help students study their plant science questions.
HOW WE CAN HELP
APPN aims to transform Australian plant science using innovative phenotyping, automation and data science to solve our nation’s biggest agricultural challenges. APPN aims to significantly accelerate the rate and precision of agricultural data collection through:
APPN provides researchers and industry with open access to multidisciplinary expertise and novel plant phenotyping infrastructure to deliver insights into crop performance in controlled environments and the field
We offer a suite of plant phenotyping tools available for deployment anywhere in Australia to support high-throughput and deep phenotyping in the field, including FieldExplorer, UAVs and large scale crop phenotyping and analysis.
APPN continuously tests and offers frontier technologies suitable for Australian conditions to underpin research excellence and innovation
APPN integrates Australia’s plant phenomics expertise into a nationwide, coordinated network that promotes knowledge transfer, resource sharing and collaboration
APPN develops and shares improved methods for plant phenotyping underpinned by FAIR data principles
We work to upskill researchers, students, industry stakeholders and APPN staff to maintain Australia’s position as a leader in plant phenomics.
Services
APPN provides access to a range of advanced technologies that accurately and rapidly measure the performance of plants in different environments non-destructively and over time. We also deliver project design solutions tailored to the specific needs of facility users.
APPN infrastructure and expertise supports academia and industry pursuing research in the following areas:
Plant phenomics
Plant physiology
Plant pathology
Agricultural science
Crop disease and pest control
Crop nutrition and management
Crop science
Crop breeding / pre-breeding
Crop modelling
Crop management practices
Horticultural research and development
Plant genetics
Genetic engineering
Molecular biology
Synthetic biology
Environmental science
Data management
Data visualisation
Expertise
APPN staff apply mechatronic engineering to plant phenotyping, develop advanced image analysis techniques (including novel applications of computer science and AI), and support best-practice data management and analysis, in order to advance understanding of plant form, function, performance and more.
Our diverse team offers expertise across a range of disciplines:
Digital plant phenotyping via advanced cameras and sensors.
Robotics and Automation of plant measurement
Biostatistics, experimental design and bioinformatics
Horticulture
Data analytics and software engineering
Plant and agricultural science
Capabilities
In general, research enabled by APPN is aimed at:
- developing crops with an improved tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress
- improving resource use efficiency in plants (e.g. water, nutrients, carbon),
- improving decision making in crop management during crop production.
Climate sensor network.
Advanced experimental design, FAIR data management and analysis of experimental data.
Controlled environment phenotyping:
High-throughput plant phenotyping platforms equipped with a range of sensors (hyperspec, RGB, LiDAR)
Gravimetric irrigation systems (DroughtSpotter technologies)
X-ray CT scanning
Specialised controlled environment spaces capable of precisely simulating specific heat and frost events.
Rhizoboxes for root trait research.
Field phenotyping:
Ground-based and airborne vehicles equipped with a range of sensors (hyperspec, RGB, LiDAR)
Various handheld devices for crop monitoring
Rhizolysimeters for root trait research in near real world conditions.
Mobile phenotyping units to access remote areas:
Ground-based and airborne vehicles equipped with a range of sensors (hyperspec, RGB, LiDAR)
Various handheld devices for crop monitoring
Our facilities are available to academic and commercial plant scientists from Australia and around the world.
