Developing plastic electronic volatile organic compound sensors for determining soil health

土壤是对农业生产力至关重要的三大自然资源之一，另外两大自然资源是空气和水。土壤本应充满生命，尤其是微生物生命，但频繁犁地、清除作物废弃物和使用重型机械等集约化耕作方式导致世界各地土壤退化，而这种退化的相关成本估计为6.3至10.6万亿美元。由于农民的利润受到挤压，农业社区对监测基于他们耕种方式的土壤健康的长期变化非常感兴趣。为了正确管理土壤健康，农民需要可靠的土壤健康信息。为此，他们需要能够测量土壤的化学、物理和生物特性。然而，农民目前没有或很少有工具可以用来测量土壤的生物特性。例如，目前评估生物特性的方法依赖于测量土壤样品的二氧化碳含量，这并不能提供土壤中存在的微生物范围的信息。其他有前途的技术，如下一代土壤微生物的DNA测序，过于昂贵，需要专家，并且提供的信息难以分析（土壤样本中存在的绝大多数不同微生物物种的确切作用目前尚不清楚）。除了二氧化碳，微生物还会释放其他气体，称为挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）。尽管挥发性有机化合物提供了有关土壤生命的有用信息，但由于测量土壤挥发性有机化合物的设备价格昂贵、以实验室为基础，而且需要训练有素的操作人员，因此农民目前没有利用它们来评估土壤健康。该项目建议开发一种便携式、低成本的VOC传感器来克服这些限制。该传感器可以连接到智能手机或笔记本电脑上，在基于云的软件包中进行强大的数据分析，因此将补充农民现有的土壤养分测试。再加上对物理特性的视觉评估，拟议的传感器将使农民能够自己进行土壤健康评估。塑料电子初创公司Technologies和园艺研究转移机构NIAB-EMR建议进行一项联合技术可行性研究，以开发一种检测土壤挥发性有机化合物的工具。一旦土壤健康测试得到验证，同样的传感器架构可以应用于医疗保健、食品加工、废物管理和污染土地修复。

Soil is one of the three major natural resources essential for agricultural productivity, with the other two being air and water. Soil should be teeming with life---especially microbial life---but intensive farming practices such as frequent ploughing, the removal of crop wastes and the use of heavy machinery have degraded soils throughout the world, and the associated costs of this degradation are estimated to be $6.3--10.6 trillion.As farmer's profits are being squeezed there is considerable interest within the farming community in monitoring long-term changes in the health of their soils based on the way they farm their land.To correctly manage soil health, farmers need reliable information on the health of their soils. For this they need to be able to measure the chemical, physical, and biological properties of soil. However, farmers currently have no, or very few tools they can use to measure the biological properties of their soils. For example, current methods to assess the biological properties rely on measuring the CO2 content of soil samples, which does not provide information on the range of microbes present in the soil. Other promising techniques such as next generation DNA sequencing of soil microbes are too expensive, require experts, and provide information that is difficult to analyse (the exact roles of the vast majority of different microbial species present in a soil sample are currently unknown).In addition to CO2, microbes also release other gases called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Despite the useful information VOCs provide on soil life, they are currently not utilized by farmers to assess soil health because the equipment to measure soil VOCs is expensive, laboratory-based, and requires trained operators. This project proposes the development of a portable, low-cost VOC sensor to overcome those constraints. The proposed sensor that can be connected to a smart phone or laptop for powerful data analysis in a cloud-based software package and will thus complement existing soil nutrient testing practiced by farmers. Coupled with visual assessments for physical properties the proposed sensor will enable farmers to make soil health assessments themselves.P.E.S. Technologies, a plastic electronics start-up, and NIAB-EMR, a horticultural research transfer organisation, propose a joint technical feasibility study to develop a tool for the detection of soil VOC profiles. Once validated for soil health testing, the same sensor architecture could be adapted for applications in healthcare, food processing, waste management and remediation of contaminated land.