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The three individual growth chambers are equipped with a PLC on which are embedded weighing/irrigation and imaging stations.

Each automaton is placed in a (15 m3) culture chamber comprising (i) a luminous ceiling made up of Sunlike/FR LEDs, air dryers, humidifiers, air coolers and heaters; (ii) micro-meteorological sensors connected to a data acquisition unit; (iii) a steel support supporting the perforated trays that will contain the pots during an experiment (the holes in these trays are of different sizes depending on the pots used); (iv) the automaton arm, the lower part of which contains a precision balance (PRECISA); the upper part of which contains an irrigation capillary connected to a peristaltic pump (or two capillaries connected to two separate pumps, depending on the experiments); two cameras (one vertical, the other horizontal, Prosilica); an infra-red camera (FLIR); and a fluorescence camera (WALTZ).

The whole system is connected to a computer that controls both the micro-meteorological conditions in the culture chamber and the automated system. A server stores all the data (environmental, images, phenotypic data). An information system provides access to images and data and enables data to be analysed using online scripts.

In short, what can be done in PHENOPSIS :

PHENOPSIS can be used to grow up to 1,516 small plants in 225 ml cylindrical pots, or up to 70 larger plants in 7 l pots, or 1,2,3 L pots. At ground level or at the top of the plant, incident radiation can reach 1000 µmol m-2 s-1 for a photoperiod defined by the experimenter.

Depending on the needs of the experiment, the air temperature can be maintained between 18 and 40°C, with humidity between 50 and 75% (or even lower).

The CO2 content can also be controlled (between 400 and 800 ppm).

Soil water content can be adjusted pot by pot with one or two nutrient solutions per experiment. Biotic (under conditions) or abiotic stresses can be imposed.

Plants can be imaged from above (Top) and/or from the side on small to medium-sized plants, enabling the angle of leaf insertion to be measured. Thermal and fluorescence images can also be obtained automatically, depending on the purpose of the experiment. Macros in ImageJ or Python are available for automatic or semi-automatic analysis of batches of images taken during an experiment, on a daily basis or over the duration of the experiment.

The automated balance can be used to measure plant transpiration and kinetics if the plants are isolated from the soil by plastic film.

Phenotypic data from images or weighing can be supplemented by manually acquired data, which can be non-destructive (photosynthesis) or destructive (root system harvesting, tissue observation, harvesting for biochemical or molecular analysis, etc.).