Figure 1
From: ScreenSeed as a novel high throughput seed germination phenotyping method
The ScreenSeed procedure workflow. (a) Seeds are sown by a pipetting method in microplates that are deposited in an automate (see Supplementary Fig. S1 online) taking hourly pictures of each well (see Supplementary Data S2 online). The images are transferred by Internet connection to a database for computational analysis and seed germination scoring. The software processing provides germination kinetics and extracts metrics with representation systems and statistical analyses that help to compare seed quality in a dashboard. (b) Imaging detection of germinated seeds. The imaging software was trained to score germinated seeds in microplate wells. In the microplate wells, the software identified germinated seeds (red square) among the detected seeds. A germinated seed illustrated by radicle protrusion through micropylar endosperm (see red square magnification details) is compared to non-germinated seed that only broke the testa but not the micropylar endosperm cap surrounding the radicle tip (see blue square magnification details). mce: micropylar endosperm; rad: radicle. The scale bar indicates \(100\,\upmu \hbox {m}\). (c) Metrics of germination kinetics provided by the ScreenSeed dashboard. The kinetic curve is represented by cumulative germination percentage scored every hour during seed hydration. The metrics \(G_{max}\) (maximal percentage of germination), \(U_{80-20}\) (80/20 time spread it the time interval between 20% and 80% germination), \(t_{50}\) (time required to reach 50% of the \(G_{max}\)) are automatically extracted from the database and can be compared between samples (Table 3).
