PlantCV v4: Image analysis software for high‐throughput plant phenotyping
Abstract PlantCV is an open‐source Python project aimed at developing tools to address a range of image‐based, plant phenotyping questions. PlantCV has been used for more than 10 years to automate trait collection from image data, and the newest release, PlantCV version 4, continues to lower the barrier to entry for users without substantial coding experience through extensive example use‐case tutorials and simplified installation. In addition to usability, we document added functionality since the release of PlantCV v2, including support for more image types such as fluorescence, thermal, and hyperspectral data. Finally, we describe the development of a new subpackage focused on morphological trait measurements like leaf angle, and demonstrate its utility as compared to more manual methods of data collection.
Authors
- Leonardo Chavez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3914-993X)
- Anna Casto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9597-0514)
- Annika Fischer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2916-8046)
- John G. Hodge
- José C. Tovar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2504-2018)
- Brandon M. Hurr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2576-4544)
- Argelia Lorence (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9844-8820)
- Stephan Summerer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1505-9473)
- Karina Medina Jiménez
- Haley Schuhl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8825-8297)
- Shannon S Cunningham
- Caleb Robey
- Samuel Kenney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6021-9169)
- Alexander Kutschera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3218-1371)
- Collin Luebbert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8665-5950)
- Dhiraj Kumar Srivastava (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9557-9286)
- Alina Zare
- Keely E. Brown (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5371-5830)
- Katherine M. Murphy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8891-4274)
- Ronald Pierik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5320-6817)
- Gabriela L Hernandez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5227-8278)
- Annarita Marrano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9560-2706)
- Chong Teng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9898-6442)
- Seth Polydore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7779-7367)
- Sanaz Jarolmasjed
- Noah Fahlgren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5597-4537)
- Tess S. Rogers
- Gehan Malia
- John Wheeler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6517-4701)
- Thia Schultz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0738-8754)
- Heather C. Manching (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6348-6808)
- Jared Gordon
- Jackson Braley
- Nicholas M. Miklave (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1902-4946)
- Mark C. Wilson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1271-9664)
- Jorge Gutierrez
- Joe Ballenger
- Kaitlyn Ying
- Joseph G. Duenwald (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8819-0970)
- Pavan Mudrageda
- Eliza Seigel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4793-3267)
- Matthew Lohbihler
- Chloe Hendrikse (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5685-9319)
- Grant Konkel
- Nathaniel Ly (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6420-4001)
- Sunita Lama (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4487-0555)
- Hudanyun Sheng
- Josh Sumner
- Adam M. Dimech
- Dominik Schneider
- Adriane E. Thompson
- Fabio Barbero
- Susan Meerdink
- J. David Peery
- Malinda Dilhara
- Parag K. Bhatt
- Autumn M. Brown
- Tim van Daalen
- Lucia Acosta‐Gamboa
- Martina Huber
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Oklahoma State University (US)
- University of Iowa (US)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Grinnell College (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (US)
- University of Florida (US)
- University of Massachusetts Boston (US)
- Maastricht University (NL)
- Centro Ricerche FIAT (IT)
- Bioscience Research (US)
- Agriculture Victoria (AU)
- JDA Software (Canada) (CA)
- Arkansas Biosciences Institute (US)
- University of North Carolina System (US)
- Washington State University (US)
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Syngenta (Switzerland) (CH)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Plant Phenome Journal
- Published
- 2026-02-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ppj2.70065
- Primary Topic
- Smart Agriculture and AI
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Defense
- Wells Fargo
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Advanced Research Projects Agency