Spatial and Texture Analysis of Root System Architecture with Earth Mover’s Distance (STARSEED)

Purpose Root system architectures are complex, multidimensional, and challenging to characterize effectively for agronomic and ecological discovery. Methods We propose a new method, Spatial and Texture Analysis of Root System architEcture with Earth mover’s Distance (STARSEED), for comparing root architectures that incorporate spatial information through a novel application of the Earth Mover’s Distance (EMD). Results We illustrate that the approach captures the response of sesame root systems for different genotypes and soil moisture levels. STARSEED provides quantitative and visual insights into changes that occur in root architectures across experimental treatments. Conclusion STARSEED can be easily generalized to other plants and provides insight into root system architecture development and response to varying growth conditions not captured by existing root architecture metrics and models. The code and data for our experiments are publicly available: . ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.