PheNo - Norwegian Plant Phenotyping Infrastructure
Link to National Community Website – http://www.pheno.no/
General enquiries – https://pheno.no/contact/
Motivation for Joining EMPHASIS
Norway’s primary motivation for joining EMPHASIS is to actively shape the future of plant phenotyping in Europe and participate in developing common practices and standards. This collaboration will significantly strengthen our national phenotyping community through access to European research infrastructures. Reciprocally, Norway will offer European colleagues access to phenotyping under our unique natural environments.
PheNo: A cohesive national consortium
PheNo is built on a consortium of partners with complementary expertise in basic plant science, plant breeding, precision agriculture, seed science, and data management. The network includes all major Norwegian plant science universities and research institutes. Leveraging the unique expertise and geographical locations of its partners, PheNo covers all major aspects of plant research across the country, serving needs in science, education, and translational research.
State-of-the-Art Phenotyping Facilities
PheNo provides state-of-the-art facilities across a range of environments:
Controlled Climate: Specialised competences and unique growth conditions in growth chambers and daylight phytotrons are provided by the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), the University of Oslo (UiO), the Arctic University of Norway (UiT), and the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO).
Field Phenotyping: To support plant breeding and agricultural research, field facilities at NMBU and NIBIO utilise UAVs and digital field operations. Phenotype data is linked to environmental sensors for soil/air parameters, and polytunnels enable drought tolerance screening.
Data and advanced technologies
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) contributes essential expertise in image analysis and deep learning. UiT has a dedicated role in building and operating robust data management solutions for the network.
Unique Norwegian assets
Did you know that the northernmost daylight phytotron in the world is located at Holt in Tromsø? This unique joint research facility, operated by NIBIO and UiT, is being equipped through PheNo with high-resolution phenotyping solutions (like the Phenospex TraitFinder). This opens new possibilities to study plants under the unique arctic light conditions. This facility is one of several unique Norwegian assets offered to the European plant phenotyping community via EMPHASIS.
More Community members
Austria
APPN brings together Austria’s plant phenotyping community; researchers, breeders, data scientists, technology developers to build shared infrastructure and methods, promote collaboration, and raise the profile of phenotyping nationally and in Europe
Belgium
EMPHASIS-Belgium, the national node located in the host country for EMPHASIS-ERIC, takes a collaborative and service-oriented approach around multiscale plant phenotyping in Belgium via cutting-edge facilities, access provision and community engagement.
France
PHENOME-EMPHASIS provides indoor and field platforms with linked biochemistry, imaging, and data services to evaluate genotypes in diverse settings, advancing climate resilience and agroecology transitions.
Ireland
Irish agriculture drives crop yield and disease research. PPN-Ireland (2016), an SFI-backed network, connects eight institutes with key phenotyping facilities. Teagasc integrates diverse crop data with molecular tools to enhance global breeding innovation.
Israel
More information coming soon.
Italy
The Italian Plant Phenotyping Network (PHEN-ITALY) is an 18-partner Joint Research Unit (JRU). Its mission is to promote and coordinate the scientific community and relevant stakeholders’ participation in national plant phenotyping research.
Netherlands
NPEC (Wageningen/Utrecht/NWO) is a high-throughput, high-resolution phenotyping facility. It provides above and below-ground data that dramatically accelerates the breeding of novel, adaptive crops—crucial for future food security—by analysing plant performance under diverse biotic/abiotic factors.
Portugal
EMPHASIS.PT established a cohesive phenotyping network (12 institutes + 2 labs) across mainland Portugal and Madeira. Leveraging diverse agro-climates, they invest in advanced technologies (drone/satellite imaging, metabolomics) to study plant adaptation, strengthen international standing, and drive capacity in EU projects.
Switzerland
The SPPN's research spans from fundamental ecological/biological studies using model plants to applied research on field and orchard crops. It provides comprehensive phenotyping infrastructure available at multiple scales: landscape, field, individual plant, and organ levels.
United Kingdom
PhenomUK comprises 15 research centres/universities housing controlled and field phenotyping platforms. These are organized into 8 targeted clusters: photophysiology, 3D/growth, health/disease, protected environments, drones, deep field, advancing practice, and digital.