Sensing Methodologies in Agriculture for Monitoring Biotic Stress in Plants Due to Pathogens and Pests

Bhuwan Kashyap,Ratnesh Kumar

doi:10.3390/inventions6020029

Abstract

Reducing agricultural losses is an effective way to sustainably increase agricultural output efficiency to meet our present and future needs for food, fiber, fodder, and fuel. Our ever-improving understanding of the ways in which plants respond to stress, biotic and abiotic, has led to the development of innovative sensing technologies for detecting crop stresses/stressors and deploying efficient measures. This article aims to present the current state of the methodologies applied in the field of agriculture towards the detection of biotic stress in crops. Key sensing methodologies for plant pathogen (or phytopathogen), as well as herbivorous insects/pests are presented, where the working principles are described, and key recent works discussed. The detection methods overviewed for phytopathogen-related stress identification include nucleic acid-based methods, immunological methods, imaging-based techniques, spectroscopic methods, phytohormone biosensing methods, monitoring methods for plant volatiles, and active remote sensing technologies. Whereas the pest-related sensing techniques include machine-vision-based methods, pest acoustic-emission sensors, and volatile organic compound-based stress monitoring methods. Additionally, Comparisons have been made between different sensing techniques as well as recently reported works, where the strengths and limitations are identified. Finally, the prospective future directions for monitoring biotic stress in crops are discussed.

Highlights

IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
This article aims to present the current state of the sensing methodologies applied towards stress detection in plants caused by pests/insects and phytopathogens, while discussing the gap in technologies which may, in the future, help reduce crop yield losses bringing us closer to achieving sustainability in agriculture
The results showed that the maximum temperature difference (MTD) of the tomato mosaic disease ranged from 0.2 ◦ C∼1.7 ◦ C, and that of wheat leaf rust ranged from 0.4 ◦ C∼2

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Global demand for food, water, and energy, with climate change and increasing variability in growing conditions, are among the key defining challenges of our time. According to the United Nations, the global population is expected to reach 9.55 billion by the year 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100 [1], and the demand for food is expected to increase anywhere between 59% to 98% by 2050 [2]. Considering the unpredictability in climate, reduced land fertility from drought, erosion, and poor management, and agriculture’s impact on the environment and the ever-increasing public expectation for implementing sustainable practices, achieving sustainability in agriculture has never been more important

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