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Located in Beaucouzé (49070, Maine-et-Loire, France), the PHENOTIC Seeds and Plants Instrumentation and Imaging Platform aims to establish a comprehensive phenotyping chain – from the dry seed stage to the whole plant – covering the entire plant development cycle.

To achieve this goal, the platform brings together the expertise of research teams in both information and communication technologies and plant sciences, and integrates dedicated phenotyping tools designed to:

• Assess the physical, germinative, and sanitary qualities of seeds and monitor seedling growth,
• Characterize the development and architecture of aerial plant parts,
• Evaluate the impact of biotic stresses.

Two Complementary Facilities

The platform’s activities are distributed across two sites in Angers:

• Angers Seed Phenotyping Facility (ASPF):
  Located at the GEVES site (French Variety and Seed Study and Control Group), ASPF focuses on phenotyping from dry seeds to seedlings.
• Angers Plant Phenotyping Facility (APPF):
  Located at the IRHS (Institute of Research in Horticulture and Seeds), APPF is dedicated to the aerial parts of plants.

Network and Partnerships

PHENOTIC supports both scientific and industrial communities at local, regional, national, and international levels.

• Locally, PHENOTIC is affiliated with SFR Quasav.
• Regionally, it has been a member of the Biogenouest network since 2014.
• Nationally, the platform is IBiSA-certified and joined the PHENOME-Emphasis national infrastructure in 2018.
• Internationally, PHENOTIC has taken part in the European Plant Phenotyping Network (EPPN2020), organized training sessions within this framework, and aims to contribute to EMPHASIS-Europe through PHENOME-EMPHASIS.

Training and Scientific Outreach

PHENOTIC staff are actively involved in INRAE networks, including the greenhouse network and the SPE Biotic Interactions Phenotyping network.

The platform also plays a key role in education and training, through the development of an educational demonstrator (CPER 2015–20 and 2020–25) that welcomes students from various Master’s programs (e.g. BV, PSI) and Doctoral Schools (EGAAL, MathSTIC), as well as participants in the University of Angers Summer School.

PHENOTIC will serve as a major technological pillar of the upcoming Plant Graduate School (ISMPB project), led by the University of Angers and supported by Institut Agro and INRAE, with the aim of strengthening the Research–Training–Innovation continuum in the Angers area.