Recent advances in plant imaging technology: a concise review

Abstract

Imaging technologies have become indispensable tools in modern plant phenotyping, transforming visual information into measurable traits essential for analyzing morphology, physiology, biochemistry, and micro- to nanoscale structures. This concise review summarizes recent advances by dividing plant imaging into two major categories: (1) physiological and biochemical, which includes hyperspectral, multispectral, and fluorescence hyperspectral imaging, as well as terahertz imaging, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and carbon dot-based techniques; and (2) structural and morphological, encompassing RGB, thermal, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), confocal microscopy, and optical coherence tomography. Together, these modalities deliver insights from the canopy to the molecular level, enabling precise monitoring of plant stress, disease, and developmental traits. By integrating these multimodal imaging techniques with artificial intelligence, the review highlights key developments, current challenges, and future perspectives in plant measurement and analysis.

Code and data availability

This is a concise review article with no original phenotyping measurements, datasets, images, or analysis code. The data availability statement reads 'Not applicable', and no author-deposited assets are mentioned; cited works are prior publications, not paper-specific assets.

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