After monitoring all of the bluebunch wheatgrass seeds for germination and allowing them to grow for 10 days, it is time to digitally scan the roots and shoots for analysis.

Each seedling was removed from the sand-filled conetainer so the roots could be cleaned and prepared for scanning. The shoot and roots were severed from the seed and scanned separately.

To analyze root morphology, my mentor and collaborator Holly Prendeville will be inputting the root images into specialized root software called WinRhizo.

The shoot portion of the plant will be measured using ImageJ. For this portion of the experiment, I will measure the length and width of the longest leaf on each plant. These data will be used in conjunction with biomass data to calculate leaf shape, and root-to-shoot ratio for each seedling in the experiment.

After the roots and shoots were both scanned all of the plant parts were placed into envelopes for drying and eventual dry-biomass measurements.