Indicators of Plant Stress and Measurement Methods

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Indicators of Plant Stress and
MeasurementMethods

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• Glen Rains
• University of Georgia
• Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department

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Use of the other senses

• Smell
• Taste
• Touch (Tactile)
• Sound

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Sound

• Insects make noise inside the plant and in the
  ground
• ARS scientists AU UF and Montana SU developed
  technique to listen for pests
• With low-level background noise insects within
  12 inches can be detected 100 percent of the time
  and 75 percent of the time under adverse
  conditions

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Sound
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Touch

• Some plants have been found to change their
  physiological state from handling or movement
• Wind can trigger chemical defense in tomatoes and
  some trees.
• Insects vibrate plants to signal to each other

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Why is smell of interest

• Looking for a way to detect plant infestation
  from disease and/or insects
• Variation over time and within a field
• Precision agriculture
• Current detection is through scouting
• With/without GPS
• However plants provide chemical signals to the
  environment around them

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Plant signaling

• Plants produce chemicals as direct and indirect
  defenses against pests
• Worked with parasitic wasp that lays eggs in the
  corn earworm and tobacco budworm
• Discovered that plants were producing chemicals
  that attracted the female wasps to the plant
  where they could find caterpillars to lay eggs

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Plant Response
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Wasp Behavior
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Significance of Plant Attributes

• New approach to genetic engineering
• Research to optimize beneficial organisms
  interactions with plants
• Makes precision application of nutrients more
  important
• Reduces chemical pesticide use and work to
  enhance system

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Collection of volatiles
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GC characterization
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Soil-borne pathogen

• Attacks roots and peanut pods
• Not-detectable

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Soil fungal pathogen
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Peanut and white mold volatiles
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Sensor Development
Sensor
Sensing

• - Artificial Sensor
• - Whole Insect
• Antennae
• Bio-sensor

Learning and Programming
-Wasp -ANN -Feedback
Plant Health Detection
Characterize Volatile Chemicals
-Disease -Plants -Stress level
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Behavioral Response
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Portable Electronic Nose

• 32 sensors that adsorb chemicals
• Trained using several statistical methods
• Response within approximately 30 seconds

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Prototype Wasp Sensor
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Sensor Response to White Mold Odor