Centre français de phénomique végétale

Supported since 2012 by the PIA project Phenome, Phenome-Emphasis has developed a high-performance infrastructure that enables the characterisation of hundreds of plant varieties under various climatic, low input and agroecological scenarios, such as drought, elevated CO2, high temperatures, and the absence of fungicides under innovative crop management practices. The infrastructure comprises nine experimental nodes, four controlled-environment facilities for the in-depth analysis of leaf and root development, two semi-controlled field facilities equipped with rainout shelters and CO2 enrichment systems, and three large open-field facilities. All these facilities are equipped with climate sensors and imaging tools for architectural and functional analysis of individual plants or plots. Two additional nodes focus on biochemistry and metabolomic traits. All experimental nodes are accessible to both public and private partners. Moreover, the infrastructure develops tools and methods to support trait extraction from images and organises data for multiple applications, with the support of artificial intelligence and modelling. These innovations can be co-developed with technology SMEs and are accompanied by training programmes aimed at a wide audience. 

 Between 2020 and 2025, Phenome-Emphasis provided annually over 110 accesses, published between 20 and 30 papers and trained over 200 people. 

Active at the European level as french node of the European infrastructure EMPHASIS and coordinator of INFRA-TECH PHENET, financially supported by projects such as PEPR AgroEcoPhen, FRANCE2030 PHENOMINNOV and recurrent funding by the French Ministry of Research, positively evaluated by an international jury in 2024, and backed by a new Consortium Agreement, Phenome-Emphasis will continue its mission in supporting agricultural resilience and transition after the end of the PIA project, aligned with the missions of its partner institutions INRAEv, Arvalis, Terres Inovia and GEVES.