PHOCUS

PHOCUS (PHenotypage en mésOCosmes de l'Université Paris-Saclay) is a mesocosm phenotyping platform shared with UMR GQE and located at IDEEV, Gif-sur-Yvette. This facility enables us to characterize plant growth and aerial and root architecture at fine scales (organs), as well as to analyze and quantify plant carbon and nitrogen functioning over the entire crop cycle, in interaction with the soil and under a climate close to that of the field, as the platform is located outdoors. This platform has already been mobilized in ongoing research projects such as MixRootC (EJP SOIL), VIGO (Casdar) and SILICOL (Promosol), and provides a new platform for collaboration between the two EcoSys divisions. The work aims to assess the impact of associations on the reduction of nitrogen inputs, soil carbon storage and plant vigor, as part of the optimization of agroecological practices and the development of new varieties adapted to these new contexts. Future technical developments will seek to (i) increase phenotyping throughput, both in terms of root architecture and non-destructive measurement of nitrogen and carbon content, and (ii) improve cycle closure by quantifying drainage and rhizodeposits.