UNATTENDED MONITOR FOR GREENHOUSE CROP HEALTH

Project Director
Patel, S. V.

Recipient Organization
SEACOAST SCIENCE, INC.
2151 LAS PALMAS DR, STE C
CARLSBAD,CA 920111575

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
Seacoast proposes to develop a low-cost system that can directly monitor chemicals emitted from crops, over a period of days to months, and analyze these chemicals for the indicators of crop stress. Researchers have found a number of chemicals that are emitted when certain plants are under attack from biotic or abiotic stresses. One example, methyl salicylate (MeS) has been found by researchers to be an indicator of thermal, viral, and bacterial stress in walnut trees, tobacco and tomato plants. Thus a monitoring system can be used by growers for site-specific management of insecticides. The system will be optimized for use in greenhouses and could provide a prognostic tool, indicating when crops are in danger before it is too late. The goal is to prevent yield loss, especially for high value crops. Seacoast has previously demonstrated detection of MeS, alpha-pinene and other published volatile plant allomones, with and without preconcentration. In this program, Seacoast will demonstrate detection of a number of plant-stress related volatiles, and push detection limits to the ppb range by identifying the optimal detector technologies to integrate with a low-cost chromatographic system and trap-and-purge preconcentrator.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

50%

Developmental

50%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
404	7210	2000	50%
404	7210	2020	50%

Knowledge Area
404 - Instrumentation and Control Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
7210 - Remote sensing equipment and technology;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering; 2000 - Chemistry;

Keywords

Goals / Objectives
Seacoast's goal is to develop dual use-technologies, which are viable in different market spaces - in this case, industrial monitoring and worker safety. In Phase I we propose to focus on testing the chemical sensor selection and preconcentrator implementation aspects of the project. The Phase I goal is to demonstrate that a number of chemicals emitted by various types of plants, under stressed conditions, can be detected by the proposed Mini GC system. In addition we will optimize the specific features of the system and select optimal components.

Project Methods
Seacoast will perform a literature study to identify low-cost chemical detectors that will be integrated with our Mini GC prototype and tested for sensitivity and selectivity. Laboratory testing for sensitivity and selectivity tests will include gas exposures of mixtures of chemicals and interfering agents. Resulting chromatograms will be analyzed using plotting software to determine limits of detection and chromatographic resolution. These methods are commonly used in analytical chemistry. A prototype system will be delivered to our Phase I partner for their evaluation. AGCO will provide feedback on the usability, interface requirements and over capability of the system for the broader agricultural detection market space.

Progress 06/01/14 to 01/31/15

Outputs
Target Audience: During this Phase I Seacoast discussed the results of this program with Professors at Washington St. University who have an interest in monitoring stored crops as well as plant volatiles for disease detection. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In this Phase I SBIR, Seacoast has shown that a system can be constructed at a price-point much lower than the state of the art ($20k-$100k) gas chromatography instruments. We have shown that this lower-priced instrument detects volatiles that have been identified in the literature as biomarkers of biotic or abiotic stress. When plants are stressed, these chemicals have been identified as being released by certain plants in much higher concentrations (orders of magnitude) than normal. The product that Seacoast is developing will detect these chemical plumes, and alert farmers of a potential problem early enough that they can prevent significant crop damage. In Phase I, we focused on the detection of several chemicals identified as plant-stress biomarkers in the literature, but we also showed that the instrument can singulate and subsequently detect target compounds in a mixture of chemical vapors. Therefore, our instrument can be setup to look for a specific suite of biomarkers, and potentially be useful for recognizing stress in several types of plants. In our tests, we showed the chromatographic system could separate the six chemicals of interest in an isothermal mode or with a thermal gradient (ramped heating). We also sent a prototype instrument to AGCO (Jackson, MN) where they were able to test the device with liquid standards, and in a greenhouse, next to a diseased plant, where they were able to detect MeS, which is a reported stress biomarker.

Publications