Phenotyping is the process of collecting measurements in the field on physical properties of a plant; for example, flowering time, seed count, or plant height. For many smaller research groups, the most common way to collect these measurements is heading out to the field with a pen and paper. This manual collection of measurements can be difficult to organize, store, and often lacks consistency. The process of hand-writing followed by the manual input of hundreds of data into a computer for analysis is inefficient and time-consuming. We worked with the Miller Lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in an effort to design an application that streamlines this process of recording data and which assists with data storage & access. To develop the front end, we used JavaScript React Expo which allows production use on both iOS and Android mobile devices. Firebase Firestore serves as our backend. Google Forms and Google Sheets act as our survey and data collection services, providing a familiar environment with which researchers interact. We will begin field use of the prototype this growing season, 2022. Further development of this app includes working to implement a photo-capture option for each individual plant to collect digital imagery insight, as well as increasing field-construction options for greater customization of the field screen.

Julia, Alex, and Hamad would like to thank Dr. Abby Stylianou for her ideas and assistance, as well as her optimism and patience in helping them work through changes and difficulties throughout the process. They would also like to thank the Miller Lab for their time, meeting on multiple occasions and giving insight to the domain of plant biology.