Design and development of a high-resolution sensory system for detection of biogenic signals

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In greenhouses where plants are grown year round, growers must continuously monitor for pests and diseases. This monitoring is currently performed by visually searching for bugs and thus pest scouring is a very labor-intensive task where the top and underside of the leaves are manually checked for pests. The visual inspection is done at the top, middle and bottom of the crop canopy. In an average size greenhouse, it takes five to six weeks to physically inspect all plants inside the greenhouse. To remain competitive in the global market place, it is important to find more effective and less labor-intensive monitoring protocols. Most plants are capable of responding to changes in their surroundings and can convey precise information about their overall health status through those responses. The ability of plants to sense external stimuli and translate them into signals that are transmitted to distant, non-stimulated organs has been known for a long time. One of the well-documented responses of plants to biotic stressors is the emission of herbivore induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) - also known as info-chemicals due to the fact that they carry some information about the status of the emitter. HIPVs can strongly affect the behaviour of both predatory and herbivorous arthropods in nature and some plants are under strong selection pressure to release these volatiles. Recent findings show that plants can recognize the herbivores and assess their threat via a series of chemical and electrical reactions that occur before activation of defensive mechanisms. The plant responses commence at early stages of infestation before the symptoms become visible. In this research, which is the continuation of our recent collaboration with Ecoation Innovative Solutions Inc. (EIS) through an NSERC Engage funding, we will further develop EIS's technology that shifts the monitoring paradigm form physical inspection of plants for small bugs to use the plants as reliable source of information about their own health and well-being and remotely monitor such health indicator signals.