Raman foliage - clip detector would allow rapid diagnosis of nutrition deficiency in plants , enabling farmers to maximise crop yield in a sustainable mode .
The portable Raman organisation was designed in collaboration with local fellowship Technospex Pte Ltd. The leafage - clip Raman detector consists of a 3-D printed clip that is establish around a fibre - based Raman investigation gathering . The inquiry was carried out by SMART and supported by the National Research Foundation ( NRF ) Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise ( CREATE ) computer program .
The portable twist allows speedy detection of nitrogen insufficiency – a critical nutrient for plant wellness . When tested on popular vegetables such as Spinach and Kai Lan , the equipment was also able-bodied to detect levels of other metabolite ; allowing measurement of a wider range of plant tension phenotypes such as drought , heat / stale , saline solution and tripping stress . The young tool offers economical , sustainable , and is an environmentally - favorable method acting to fight food insecurity .
investigator from the Disruptive & Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision ( DiSTAP ) Interdisciplinary Research Group ( IRG ) of Singapore - MIT Alliance for Research and Technology ( SMART ) , MIT ’s research endeavor in Singapore and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory ( TLL ) have designed a portable optical sensor that can supervise whether a flora is under tenseness . The gadget offers James Leonard Farmer and plant scientists a new tool for former diagnosing and real - sentence monitoring of plant wellness in field conditions .
Precision agriculture is an important scheme for harness growing food insecurity through sustainable agriculture practices , but it need new technologies for the rapid diagnosis of plant life stresses before the onset of visible symptoms and subsequent yield loss . SMART ’s raw portable Raman leaf - clip sensor is a useful tool in preciseness husbandry allow former diagnosis of nitrogen insufficiency in works , which can be join to premature foliage deterioration and loss of yield .
In a newspaper publisher title “ Portable Raman leaf - cartridge clip detector for speedy detection of plant stress ” published in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports , SMART DiSTAP and TLL scientists excuse how they designed , constructed , and test the leaf clip that allow the opthalmic detector to probe the leaf chemistry and establish the stress res publica .
“ Our findings showed that in vivo measurements using the portable folio - snip Raman sensor under full - easy growth precondition were consistent with measure obtained with a benchtop Raman spectrometer on leaf - section under science laboratory conditions , ” says MIT Professor Rajeev Ram , co - Lead author of the paper and Principal Investigator at DiSTAP . “ We demonstrated that early diagnosis of nitrogen insufficiency – a critical nutrient and the most important component of fertilizers – in living plant is possible with the portable sensor . ”
While the study mainly look at measuring nitrogen grade in plant , the gimmick can also be used to detect stratum of other plant tension phenotype such as drouth , hotness and cold stress , saline solution stress , and light stress . The wide of the mark range of plant stressors that can be detected by these leaf - clip Raman probe and their simplicity and stop number makes them ideal for field role by farmers to ensure crop health .
“ While we have focused on the early and specific diagnosing of nitrogen insufficiency using the folio - cartridge clip sensor , we were able-bodied to measure peaks from other metabolites that are also clearly keep in pop vegetables such as Kailan , Lettuce , Choy Sum , Pak Choi , and Spinach , ” says Dr. Chung Hao Huang , co - first author of the newspaper and Postdoctoral Fellow at TLL .
The team conceive their findings can assist sodbuster to maximise crop fruit , while ensuring minimum negative impingement on the environs , include downplay pollution of aquatic ecosystems by reducing nitrogen overflow and percolation into the water supply table .
“ The sensor was certify on multiple vegetable variety and supports the exertion to produce alimentary , low - cost vegetables as part of the Singapore 30 by 30 initiative , ” say Professor Nam - Hai Chua , co - Lead Principal Investigator at DiSTAP , Deputy Chairman at TLL and co - Lead source of the study . “ Extension of this piece of work to a across-the-board diverseness of crop may contribute globally to improved craw takings , large mood resilience , and moderation of environmental pollution through slim fertilizer use . ”
For more data : Singapore - MIT Alliance for Research and Technology ( SMART)www.smart.mit.edu
