CID Bio-Science, Inc.

CID Bio-Science, Inc. Plant science tools that work where you work. For over 25 years, CID Bio-Science, Inc. Visit www.felixinstruments.com to learn more.

has been designing instruments for agricultural and environmental research. We specialize in creating light, compact tools that are fully functional on-site. Our instruments provide data on demand with no need for lab analysis with research applications including: photosynthesis, canopy analysis, leaf area, spectroscopy, and root function. CID is made up of engineers, scientists, assemblers, machi

nists, technicians, and businesspeople who have dedicated our careers to building tools for plant physiology research. Our Application Scientists and Sales staff work directly with science and agricultural professionals to equip them with the instruments that will best meet their needs. After decades of engineering tools for plant science, our subsidiary company, Felix Instruments-Applied Food Science, is providing a new line of sensing tools for commercial post-harvest applications. Headquartered in Camas, Washington in the United States, CID is represented by distributors in 44 countries around the world and is an expert in developing new global markets. Committed to the public good, CID considers our customers, distributors, vendors and public community in each of our actions. CID Bio-Science is proud to be a U.S. manufacturer—designing and assembling all products in Camas, Washington, USA, and supporting fellow businesses by sourcing materials locally whenever possible.

What if improving the biology around a plant’s roots could increase both growth and photosynthetic performance?This week...
08/26/2026

What if improving the biology around a plant’s roots could increase both growth and photosynthetic performance?

This week’s Wednesday Research Review looks at a two-year alfalfa study testing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and rhizobia.

Researchers found that dual inoculation often outperformed either microorganism alone. One treatment increased aboveground biomass by 34 to 47%, while dual treatments increased net photosynthetic rate by as much as 71%.

To understand why the plants responded, researchers used the CI-340 Portable Photosynthesis System from CID Bio-Science to measure photosynthetic rate, transpiration, stomatal conductance, and intercellular CO₂.

The takeaway: stronger root-microbe relationships appeared to improve nutrient acquisition, photosynthetic performance, growth, and forage quality.

For growers, agronomists, researchers, and ag companies, the bigger lesson is simple:
Don’t just measure whether a practice worked. Measure why it worked.

For the full research, head here: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16151511

What is your plant actually doing with the light it receives?The CI-340 Handheld Photosynthesis System measures leaf gas...
08/25/2026

What is your plant actually doing with the light it receives?

The CI-340 Handheld Photosynthesis System measures leaf gas exchange to give researchers a clearer look at how plants are responding in real time.

It measures things like:

Photosynthesis
Transpiration
Stomatal conductance
Internal CO₂ concentration

And because it is portable, those measurements can be taken directly in the field or in the lab.

A straightforward way to put numbers behind plant response instead of relying on what you can see from the outside.

Comment to learn more about the CI-340 and how it is used in plant research.

What if the first signs of drought stress appear before a plant ever looks wilted?For this week’s Wednesday Research Rev...
08/20/2026

What if the first signs of drought stress appear before a plant ever looks wilted?

For this week’s Wednesday Research Review, researchers tested how the potato gene StuPPO9 affects drought tolerance.

After 12 days of drought, plants overexpressing StuPPO9 maintained stronger growth, better water retention, and a net photosynthetic rate 1.53× higher than that of wild-type plants.

Using the CI-340 Portable Photosynthesis System from CID Bio-Science, researchers measured the photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration, and intercellular CO₂ concentration. These measurements helped show not just that plants were stressed, but also how drought was affecting their ability to maintain photosynthesis.

The practical takeaway: visible symptoms only tell part of the story. Tracking plant physiology can reveal stress earlier and help breeders, researchers, agronomists, and growers make better decisions.

What plant measurement do you rely on most when evaluating stress?

Full study here: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/15/16/2495

Some of the most interesting photos are taken where no one can see them. 📸🌱For World Photography Day, the CI-600 In-Situ...
08/19/2026

Some of the most interesting photos are taken where no one can see them. 📸🌱

For World Photography Day, the CI-600 In-Situ Root Imager gets its turn behind the lens.

Instead of photographing what’s happening above ground, it captures detailed images of roots as they grow in the soil.

So yes, we’re counting root imaging as photography too.

Happy World Photography Day from CID Bio-Science. 📷🌿

Researchers found that larger, denser canopies captured more light at the top, but also created more self-shading. In fa...
08/12/2026

Researchers found that larger, denser canopies captured more light at the top, but also created more self-shading. In fact, the upper canopy intercepted roughly 80% to 90% of incoming light, leaving much less available deeper in the plant.

Using the CI-110 Plant Canopy Imager, researchers measured LAI, light extinction, and canopy density, helping them quantify something growers often judge visually: how open or dense a canopy really is.

The takeaway is simple: more growth is not always the goal. Better-distributed growth may matter more.

Whether you work in production, breeding, research, extension, or ag technology, it raises a useful question:
Are you measuring how much a plant grows, or how effectively that growth is arranged?

That’s this week’s Wednesday Research Review. Check out the full study here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2026.115081

A taller coffee seedling is not always a better coffee seedling.A nursery study testing Trichoderma across three Coffea ...
08/05/2026

A taller coffee seedling is not always a better coffee seedling.

A nursery study testing Trichoderma across three Coffea arabica varieties found that seedling quality depended on the specific variety and inoculant formulation.

The strongest results included:

• 24.6% greater leaf area with the solid formulation
• 17.3% greater stem diameter with the liquid formulation
• 13.1% lower slenderness with the liquid formulation
• Up to 16.1% improvement in the Dickson Quality Index

But one treatment produced taller Gran Colombia seedlings with thinner stems and a slenderness score above the preferred threshold.

That is the key point: more growth does not automatically mean better planting material.

Researchers used the CID Bio-Science CI-202 Leaf Area Meter to quantify changes in leaf expansion that leaf counts alone would have missed.

Read the full study to see why coffee variety, formulation, and structural balance should all be considered before selecting a nursery inoculation program: https://na2.hubs.ly/H070YbZ0

08/04/2026

Could nitrogen deposition be helping plant growth while quietly creating a bigger problem?

At moderate levels, added nitrogen can increase leaf area, photosynthesis, and above-ground biomass.

But the effect does not keep improving as nitrogen rises.

Higher deposition can:
• Increase soil acidity
• Disrupt nutrient balance
• Shift growth away from roots
• Damage leaves and reduce chlorophyll
• Change how species compete within an ecosystem

The response also varies by plant species, climate, soil conditions, and how long the exposure lasts. That means more nitrogen is not automatically better, even in nitrogen-limited environments.

Our latest article explains what nitrogen deposition is, how it changes plant traits and photosynthesis, and which measurements can help researchers assess the impact.

Read the full article to see whether nitrogen deposition may be influencing the plants or ecosystems you study: https://na2.hubs.ly/H070rr30

Thanks for a great show! It was great seeing all of you at !
07/30/2026

Thanks for a great show! It was great seeing all of you at !

07/28/2026

Can more nitrogen help plants grow while quietly weakening the ecosystem around them?

Nitrogen deposition happens when nitrogen-containing pollutants, including nitrogen oxides and ammonia, move from the atmosphere into soils and plants.

At moderate levels, that extra nitrogen can act like fertilizer:

• Leaf area may increase
• Photosynthesis can rise
• Plants may allocate more growth above ground
• Nitrogen-limited ecosystems may become more productive

But the response does not keep improving as deposition increases.

Higher nitrogen loads can acidify soils, disrupt nutrient balance, reduce root investment, increase pest susceptibility, and eventually damage leaves and photosynthetic function. The outcome also varies widely by species, ecosystem, climate, and exposure duration.

So nitrogen deposition is not simply beneficial or harmful. It is a threshold problem, and understanding where that threshold sits requires measuring how plants respond from the leaf to the canopy.

Read the full article to see how nitrogen deposition changes plant growth, leaf traits, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and water use: https://na2.hubs.ly/H06WYnt0

What if plants could get critical nutrients faster through their leaves than through the soil?For this week's , A study...
07/22/2026

What if plants could get critical nutrients faster through their leaves than through the soil?

For this week's , A study on oil palm seedlings found that applying a 0.2% foliar NPK fertilizer every two weeks improved growth compared with untreated plants.

Researchers recorded up to:
17% greater height
12% thicker stems
24% more leaves
41% higher leaf greenness

NPK 20-15-15 and NPK 11-8-6 produced the strongest greenness results, while powder and liquid fertilizers performed similarly overall.

To track plant response, the researchers used tools including the CI-202 portable leaf area meter, which helps create objective, repeatable leaf measurements instead of relying only on visual observation.

The broader takeaway: foliar nutrition may help correct nutrient stress quickly, but measurement matters. Test it, compare it with your current practice, and track plant response, labor, cost, and crop safety before scaling up.

Where could better measurement improve decisions in your operation? Read the full study here: https://doi.org/10.29244/jtcs.9.01.1-7

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