MEASUREMENT OF CABBAGE (BRASSICA OLERACEA L.) ROOT TREATED WITH BENEFICIAL MICROBIAL CONSORTIA THROUGH COMPUTER VISION TECHNOLOGY.

This study aimed to measure the root length and surface area of cabbage plants (Brassica oleracea L.) by using computer vision technology (RGB Camera). This investigation was conducted by a transdisciplinary team made up of researchers from the agronomy, environmental, electronic, and computer vision fields. Researchers from the first two fields were responsible for obtaining biofertilizers by applying beneficial microbial consortia to household organic waste; in addition, to planting cabbage seeds with different amounts of biofertilizer. The last two fields were responsible for developing a system that would measure root length and root surface area by using image analysis. As a result, plants enriched with 20% and 25% of biofertilizers showed better performance in root length. In comparison, these plants, compared to the control group had 63% more surface area root and were 61% longer root. These results show that biofertilizers should be applied in adequate amounts to obtain higher root length and surface area. This is important since plant roots absorb water and nutrients for plant development and these functions depend on the length of roots and fine roots. In addition, it should be emphasized that conventional root measurement techniques are time-consuming and provide inaccurate data. This research presents a methodology where computer vision technology is applied to optimize the measurement process, providing accurate data in less time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]