Patent Document ID: 8991098
Application ID: 13063217
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for analyzing the impact of genetic modifications on plants and selecting a plant with a genetic modification of interest, the method comprising: a) providing a plurality of plants growing in one or more containers under controlled environmental conditions, each plant being associated with a machine-readable identification that distinguishes the plant from other plants; b) moving the plants on transport belts in an automated transporter system at one or more intervals during their growing cycle so as to avoid extended exposure to a particular micro-environment, thereby reducing the influence of micro-environment variations on the phenotype of the plants; c) transporting one or more plants at one or more intervals during its growing cycle through an imaging system for imaging of the plant, wherein the imaging system is made to image the plant while the plant is being moved forward continuously through said imaging system and comprises a turning mechanism and an imaging device, and wherein the turning mechanism turns the plant or the imaging device in a controlled manner; d) imaging one or more characteristic of the plant while the plant is being moved forward through the imaging system; e) analyzing the images for the one or more characteristic of the plant by computer processing and associating the resulting information with the machine-readable identification information for the plant; f) analyzing the resulting information for the one or more characteristic of the one or more plant to determine the impact of the genetic modification; and g) either selecting one or more plants with a genetic modification of interest or communicating information from analyzing steps e) and/or f) to others for selecting one or more plants with a genetic modification of interest.