High-Throughput Phenotyping and Its Importance in Host Plant Resistance

Plant phenotyping has been the topic of research for several decades across the globe, which has made significant contributions to the advancements in plant cultivation and breeding. However, the implication of high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) in evaluating the study made in the field of plant-insect interaction is in its infancy. Here, we take the opportunity to revisit and highlight the different scopes of employing HTP for large-scale analysis of the insect damage signatures across different plant parts and the respective insect behavior. Screening for insect-resistant host plants and breeding for insect-resistant varieties require phenotyping data to identify and ensure the level of resistance in plants. HTP allows a nondestructive way of quantifying plant damage, insect feeding behavior, choice, and no-choice assays and generates a tremendous amount of data through image capturing, image processing, and video recordings. Different automated image capturing platforms are available to determine the plant traits and insect behavior, and by utilizing the HTP, a large number of plant accessions can be screened in a shorter time while maintaining the data accuracy and sensitivity. This chapter, thus, highlights the various mechanisms to employ HTP in large-scale plant-herbivore interaction studies to make the future better for the scientists of tomorrow.