Root phenotyping research: Automated total root length estimation from in situ images without segmentation

Climate change stresses severely limit crop yields, with root traits playing a vital role in stress tolerance, thus highlighting the importance of root phenotyping for crop improvement. Recent advances in image-based root phenotyping, particularly through the minirhizotron (MR) technique, offer insights into root dynamics under stress. However, the manual and subjective nature of MR image analysis poses significant challenges.