A New Spline-Based Image Processing Technique with Applications to Whole-Slide Imaging of Plant Roots

A new spline-based method was developed to transform over 100,000 multi-gigapixel plant root whole-slide scanning images into deep learning-ready image patches. We validated the robustness of our approach by analyzing eight bootstrap samples of a thousand images each classified as excellent, moderate, or bad quality by four independent experts. The goodness of fit, roughness, and irregularity of the splines were uniform across all quality levels, confirming our method's reliability for generating patches from gigapixel plant root images. These patches will be used as an input to deep learning based algorithms capable of detecting and classifying mycorrhized root segments and types of fungal structures presented.