August 29, 2019 | Capital Press
If potato farmers worry about storage losses, they might want to call “Rotbusters.”That’s the name Sindhuja Sankaran uses to explain her work using sensors to detect storage diseases like pythium and soft rot at early stages, even before their symptoms become visible.
Sankaran is an associate professor in the WSU Department of Biological Systems Engineering.
She says the sensors “smell” differences in potatoes that a disease emits. For example, a farmer might use a portable sensor to scan different areas of his potato storage. If the sensor detects a certain marker compound produced by rot or another disease, it triggers an alarm. That allows farmers to address the problem before it grows…
Read the Full Article : Western Innovator: Sensors ‘smell’ plant diseases, 2019, Capital Press