Phenomics improves our understanding of the genetic basis of yield and will increase a breeder’s confidence in selecting new and improved breeding lines.

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The Plant Accelerator^TM

The Plant Accelerator™ is a world-leading plant phenomics facility offering state-of-the-art plant growth environments and the latest technology in high throughput plant imaging for the repeated measurements of the physical attributes (phenotype) of plants automatically and non-destructively.

Digital imaging technologies, high capacity computing and robotics are combined to allow the automated, high throughput, non-destructive measurement of plant growth and function (“phenomics”). This allows the dissection of traits that contribute to, for example, drought and salinity tolerance and this can be carried out for large populations of plants.

The aim is to increase the speed and scale of physiological measurements, to enable genetic studies to be undertaken to elucidate the molecular basis of complex physiological traits. This facility provides increased opportunity to bring a genetic component into physiological studies.

The services provided by our team of experts enable national and international academic and commercial plant scientists to understand and to relate the performance of particular plants to the genetic make-up of those plants, so facilitating an acceleration of crops improvement - generating crops that are more productive, disease tolerant and viable on marginal soils.

Strategically located at the University of Adelaide’s Waite Campus, The Plant Accelerator™ provides users with access to a critical mass of expertise in plant and soil science including plant biotechnology, cereal breeding, sustainable agriculture, wine and horticulture, and land management.

The Plant Accelerator™ was established under the Commonwealth Government's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) and serves as the national headquarters of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility, which includes the High Resolution Plant Phenomics Centre in Canberra.

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