Vienna Scientific Instruments GmbH (VSI) products

VSI - Fully Automatic Minirhizotron Camera

The fully automatic minirhizotron camera AC-21 allows 24/7 observation of roots and the rhizosphere in Ultra HD. After wireless setup with a PC or tablet computer, it allows automatic, unattended, repeated imaging of roots and the rhizosphere at user-defined intervals. Images are stored in UHD quality without distortion and according to the ICAP naming scheme. The Minirhizotron camera system moves 360°, so imaging positions can be freely set by the application, or whole-tube imaging can be selected. The system is currently available for Minirhizotron observation tubes of 0.5 or 1 m length and d = 7 cm, installed vertically or angled. The Root Imager is fully weatherproof and can be used 24/7 in the field. The required power supply is 24 V (battery, PV, etc.). The new standard in root analyzing equipment!

VSI - Growth Pouch Systems for Root Phenotyping

Growth pouch systems are suitable for screening root system architectures of large numbers of seedlings in a rapid and cost-effective manner - enabeling high-throughput root phenotyping platforms. Such root phenotyping systems allow the lengths, branching and angles of different root types to be measured, which form the basis of models to generate RSAs of crop genotypes and estimate the consequences for soil exploration and resource uptake. Pouch systems using plants grown vertically on germination paper have been successfully used in seedling screens for many years and species - including bean, maize, wheat, oilseed rape, and pearl millet. The measurement of root traits such as root numbers and branching angles has shown to hold predictive value for breeding crops with greater yields and stress tolerance. Researchers have used germination pouch set-ups of many different configurations and VSI will thus custom-made manufacture growth pouch systems meeting your requirements.

VSI - Manual UHD Minirhizotron Camera

The root imager allows wide range of basic or applied plant and soil scientists to capture ultra HD digital images (up to 2500 dpi!) of roots and the rhizosphere over one or multiple growing seasons. Durable and lightweight, and equipped with a reliable indexing handle for exact vertical positioning (and an indexing head for accurate circular positioning), the manual & highly portable UHD minirhizotron camera system is an advanced version of the traditional, and much relied on Bartz camera systems. It is robust and easy to transport to any field location and can be used in pots and mesocosms. It is suitable to image horizontally, vertically and angled minirhizotron tubes up to 500 cm in length and can be factory calibrated to various root observation tube dimensions. The Windows OS-based ICAP 8 software quickly and reliable allows to set-up and follow-up root imaging schedules and locations, and handles the comprehensible ICAP naming of images.

VSI - Minirhizotron Tubes

Acrylic tubes of various diameters (fitting VSI and BARTZ minirhizotron camera systems and root scanners) and lenght can be purchased, other materials are available upon request. In addition, we manufacture root observation to length and refine them (e.g. bottom and top caps, and light exclusion screens).

VSI - Insect Oviposition Brushing Machine

In insect rearing facilities, females are often allowed to oviposit (i.e. deposit eggs) on moist paper strips. Commonly, the eggs are collected after paper drying by laboratory personnel - using fine brushes to manually brush the eggs into containers for maturation. As this process is very time consuming and thus not suitable for high-throughput mass rearing facilities, we developed the VSI IR-502 brushing machine to automatically and efficiently remove and collect insect eggs from paper strips. For oviposition harvest, paper strips are gradually entered between two counter rotating barrels equipped with brushes. The brushing speed can be adjusted stepless. Oviposition is collected from an extractable storage compartment at the bottom. The user-friendly IR-502 machine significantly reduces the time for insect egg collection in insect research and mass rearing settings. The design allows for easy cleaning of all parts.

VSI - Insect Collector with Counter

The device is an automatic insect aspirator, build to carefully collect and transfer a defined number of flying insects from one rearing cage to another target cage. In a way it is a modern day version of a "Pooter", especially suited for mass rearing settings and insect research facilities. The inner chamber size (35 cm x 35 cm x 35 cm) of the VSI IR-735 Insect Collector is suitable for standard rearing cages ('target cages') up to 33 cm side length. Insects are captured in the source cage via a vacuum pipe with variable hose length; the associated ventilator for creating the suction force is screen mesh protected and positioned below the target cage. Insect collection is started/stopped via a foot switch for easy, hands-free operation. As insects are entering the target cage, their number is counted with a photo sensor and the collected number is displayed. The device requires 220 V. The device can be custom-made to fit customers insect cages sizes.

VSI - Mosquito Larvae Mass Rearing Trays

Standardised larval rearing units for insect production are essential for the establishment of mass-rearing facilities. We offer mosquito mass rearing trays according to the specifications by the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture (FAO/IAEA-IPCL). The trays are compatible with the VSI Tray and Rack systems / Mosquito mass rearing module; those hold 30 mass rearing trays each. The mosquito mass-rearing tray was designed to provide a large surface area of shallow water - closely mimicking natural breeding sites and allowing for the larval diet to be easily accessible. According to research, the tray is applicable for rearing larvae of several mosquito species. No impact on male mating competitiveness to wild type mosquito females was found and the tray was recommended to be used in mosquito mass rearing facilities. The use of the trays for rearing other insect species requiring similar environmental conditions for pupation is likely.

VSI - Rhizobox Racks

VSI offers several standard or custom Rhizobox Rack designs: Standard Racks (with space in-between boxes, 40°, 5 boxes; PP) allow individual boxes to be removed, optional shading panels are available to protect the roots of individual boxes from light. Compact Racks (with NO space in-between boxes, 40°, 5 boxes, PP) maximize the number of root boxes that can be placed, e.g. in space-constrained growth chambers, growth rooms; only the first Rhizobox per rack requires an additional Shading Panel, as the boxes are placed front to back. The different Rhizobox rack types & customized designs (number of boxes, inclination angle, Shading Panels, etc.) are available via the rhizobox configuration form (pdf).

VSI - Heavy Duty Rhizobox Racks

VSI offers several standard or custom Rhizobox Rack designs: Heavy Duty Racks - Compact (recommended for heavy rhizoboxes over ~60/70 cm in height); without space in-between boxes, 45° or custom inclination angle (fixed or adjustable), for 5-10 rhizoboxes each (depending on size); made from aluminum (frame) / 10 mm PP (bottom grid & 1x Light Shielding Panel (in front of first rhizobox)). 4 to 6 adjustable legs (to position the racks on uneven floors; number depending on rack lenght). Max. lenght 2 m. Heavy Duty Racks - Single (recommended for heavy rhizoboxes over ~60/70 cm in height; with space in-between boxes, 45° or custom angle (fixed / adjustable), for 5-8 rhizoboxes each (depending on size); made from aluminum (frame) / 10 mm PP (bottom grid & Light Shielding Panel (in front of each Rhizobox)). 4 to 6 adjustable legs (to position the racks on uneven grounds; number depending on rack length). Max. lenght 2 m.

VSI - Minirhizotron Tubes Endcaps

Bottom and top caps for 70 mm OD, 64 mm ID Minirhizotron tubes. Other dimension can be sourced together with MR Tubes / MR Camera Systems. Sets include one bottom cap and one top cap. Variants for VSI MS-190 (manual) and AC-21 (automatic) Minirhizotron camera systems exist: AC-21 bottom caps have a POM inset (white in images) to guide the automatic MR camera during rotation. Bottom caps must be glued into MR tube ends (i.e. the side without camera positioning hole!) to seal.