Lublin/ Digital plant imaging center opened at the University of Life Sciences

Detection of plant diseases, growth disturbances, drought response, or fertilizer effectiveness is possible thanks to digital imaging, which is used by the Plant Phenomics Center, which opened on Tuesday at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin. It is the first such center in Poland.

"Polish science is developing towards modernizing its systems, also in agriculture, using artificial intelligence, which, based on the information obtained, is able to identify diseases, parasites or the need for fertilization or spraying. This is the direction in which we will definitely develop, because there is no turning back from this," said to journalists the Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, Prof. Maria Mrówczyńska, who was present at the opening ceremony of the Center.

The Plant Phenomics Center is engaged in detailed, precise analysis and description of various plant characteristics - their health, growth rate, resistance to various environmental conditions. Currently, research is being conducted here on wheat, rapeseed, sugar beet and soybean.

The Rector of the University of Life Sciences, Prof. Krzysztof Kowalczyk, emphasized that the research conducted in the new Center is to serve, among other things, plant breeding in the future. "Climate changes will occur. The experiments that we are currently conducting here concern drought, so we want to select such forms that will be at least tolerant to these changing conditions, especially drought," he said.

Michał Nowak, head of the Plant Phenomics Center at the University of Technology, told journalists that the modern plant imaging system allows for more precise analysis than previous long-term observations and laboratory tests, but also allows for insight into the structures and processes occurring in plants. "We can analyze the collected data very quickly, and there is a lot of it. We can study these plants very deeply through fluorescence analysis or hyperspectral analysis, where we use very unique light sources, which allows us to study what we cannot observe with the naked eye," he added.

The Plant Phenomics Center creates an automated system for plant phenotyping placed in controlled greenhouse conditions. The system is equipped with a number of sensors allowing for multidimensional analysis of plants, as well as devices for the application of water or plant protection products.

The construction of the Centre cost around PLN 30 million, of which the digital imaging equipment for plants cost almost PLN 10 million, and the greenhouses with equipment - PLN 20 million. Everything was financed from the university's own funds. The centre can examine various plants that will fit in the greenhouse, i.e. up to a height of about 1.5 meters.

"The system we have is the first in Poland and one of several in Europe where we can fully automatically image plants in controlled conditions," Nowak noted.

The opening of the Centre was combined with a ceremony of naming the streets located on the premises of the Experimental Farm and the Equestrian Centre of the University of Life Sciences in Lublin. The existing street, Doświadczalna, was divided into three smaller ones. The division is to facilitate movement in this area, because the previous street layout caused problems with navigation. The two newly created streets were given names commemorating two professors of the University of Life Sciences: an expert and researcher of horse use, Prof. Ewald Sasimowski, and a specialist in the field of improving poultry breeds, Prof. Laura Kaufman.

The University of Life Sciences in Lublin celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. Its beginnings date back to 1955, when the Higher School of Agriculture was established in Lublin, consisting of three faculties: Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics - separated from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. Over the years, the school developed, transformed into the Agricultural Academy and then into the University of Life Sciences.

In recent years, the university has made many investments – the Innovative Animal Diagnostics and Therapy Centre, the new Main Library, the Innovation and Implementation Centre for New Techniques and Technologies in Agricultural Engineering, the Research Station and the Equestrian and Hippotherapy Teaching and Training Centre were put into use. The University of Life Sciences in Lublin educates about 7.5 thousand people in all types of studies, in 55 fields of study. (PAP)

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