Correlative Imaging of Plant Roots using Neutrons and X-rays

The interactions between plant roots and soil are an area of active research, particularly in terms of water and nutrient uptake. Since non-invasive, in vivo studies are required, tomographic imaging appears an obvious method to use, but no one imaging modality is well suited to capture the complete system. X-ray imaging gives clear insight to soil structure and composition, however water is comparatively transparent to X-rays and biological matter also displays poor contrast with respect to the pores between soil particles. Neutron imaging presents a complementary view where water and biological matter are better distinguished but the soil minerals are not imaged as clearly as they would be with X-rays. This work aims to develop robust methods for correlative imaging of Plant Roots using Neutrons and X-rays.