The stations
The SMARTtray® Workflow
Sowing the seed
The cultivation plate is filled with a substrate. With the support of a vacuum seed dispenser, the seed is placed in the individual wells of the cultivation plate. The roots of the plants grow through the bottom openings, the cutting wells and the openings of the cutting plate into the corresponding sample containers.
Cultivation
The plants are cultivated automatically under controlled conditions. LEDs enable targeted control of root and shoot growth at the relevant stage.
Sampling
As soon as the plants have developed sufficient root mass in the sample container, a cutting machine samples the roots with the cutter integrated in the device without damaging the development of the plant.
Dewatering
Punching
The punching unit ensures contamination-free removal of the cutter and cutting plate from the sample container.
Continuous Cultivation
The intact plants remain in the cultivation plate and are then returned to the cultivation unit, while the removed root tissue is transferred to the laboratory for DNA extraction and marker-assisted selection (MAS).
DNA extraction
Depending on the application, different and scalable DNA extraction methods are used.
Marker-Assisted-Selection (MAS)
Selection of plants
Only the plants with the desired genetic traits are selected for further cultivation.
The SMARTtray® workflow automates and accelerates the plant breeding process by reducing the number of manual steps to a minimum while enabling precise and efficient sampling. The entire process from sowing to selection takes 10-14 days with SMARTtray®, depending on the plant species. Early sampling speeds up the decision-making process by 8 to 10 days compared to the traditional method.