Automated detection, and highly targeted and effective treatment and prevention, of bacterial blight infection in major World Food Crops

“无法治愈的细菌性枯萎病引起的粮食安全问题是全球面临的最严重的环境和社会问题之一。全球10%的作物产量因疾病而损失，每年损失2200亿美元。作物病害的多样性不断扩大，新的品种不断进化。一项研究表明，细菌性枯萎病造成的主要作物损失足以养活全球近9%的人口，随着气候变化的普遍存在和农业土壤中重金属的持续使用，这些数字将进一步增加。尽管问题的紧迫性和规模，但识别，治疗和预防作物细菌性枯萎病感染的技术进步是无效的，检测主要依赖于人工过程，因此及时、低效，而现有技术的成像技术由于其成本效益低和输出复杂而未被广泛采用。此外，目前还没有化学或生物治疗方法可以治愈细菌感染，它们只是减缓了疾病的传播。为了阻止细菌的传播，必须将植物全部清除，但这一过程的成本非常高昂。此次合作的目的是克服现有解决方案的局限性，通过开发一种两用无人机和新型的引导生物治疗，提供第一个完整的解决方案，以检测和治疗黄单胞菌细菌性枯萎病。该无人机可以将可互换的有效载荷与在该项目工作期间专门设计的传感器系统和交付系统连接起来。这种方法将提供：先进的人工智能驱动的图像分析，以识别黄单胞菌感染精确定位感染的GPS相关的感染区域坐标特定的点喷雾的引导生物技术（采用交付系统）治疗/保护患病植物只通过选择性地去除黄单胞菌感染调制信号通路，以消除细菌致病性延长产品寿命由于减少选择压力，以发展阻力减少作物浪费提高作物生产系统效率改善土壤和空气质量。通过支持创新英国，需要一个24个月的研究计划，以提供一个优化的原型在作物生产系统中演示。如果成功，这一解决方案有可能真正彻底改变粮食安全的未来，并具有全球开发潜力（能够防止160万吨废物-累计到5年）。该项目将为Rinicom和Rinicom带来显著的出口导向型增长、可观的投资回报率、增加的就业机会和进一步的研发投资机会。"

"Food security concerns resulting from incurable bacterial blight is one of the most critical environmental and social issues faced globally. 10% of global crop production is lost to disease costing $220 billion annually. The diversity of crop diseases continues to expand, and new strains are constantly evolving. A study has suggested the loss of major crops to bacterial blight amount to enough to feed nearly 9% of the global population, with these figures set to increase further with the prevalence of climate change and continued heavy metal use on agricultural soil.Despite the urgency and scale of the problem, technological advancements to identify, treat and prevent bacterial blight infection in crops is ineffective, with detection largely reliant on manual processes, therefore timely, unproductive with state-of-the-art imaging technologies not widely adopted due to their cost-ineffectiveness and complicated output. Additionally, there are no current chemical or biological treatments that can cure bacterial infection, they simply slow the spread of the disease. Full plant removal is essential to halt the bacterial spread but is very costly.This collaboration of Folium, Rinicom and the John Innes Centre seeks to overcome limitations of current solutions to deliver the first complete solution to both detect and treat Xanthomonas bacterial blight by developing a dual-purpose drone and novel Guided Biotic treatment to be used as a joint solution. This drone can attach interchangeable payloads with a sensor system and delivery system specifically designed during this project work. This approach will offer:Advanced AI driven image analysis to identify Xanthomonas infectionPrecise location GPS of infectionAssociated infected area coordinatesSpecific spot spray of Guided Biotics (employing delivery system)Treatment/protection of diseased plant only by selected removal of Xanthomonas infectionsModulation of signalling pathways to abolish bacterial pathogenicityEnhanced product lifetime due to reduced selective pressure to develop resistanceReduced crop wasteIncreased crop production system efficiencyImproved soil and air quality.With support through Innovate UK, a 24-month programme of research is required to deliver an optimised prototype demonstrated in a crop production system. If successful, this solution has the potential to truly revolutionise the future of food security with global exploitation potential (capable of preventing 1.6 million tonnes of waste- cumulative by YR5). The project will deliver significant export led growth for Folium and Rinicom, a substantial ROI, increased employment and further opportunity for R&D investment."