Determination of plant diseases and stresses is currently dependent on time-consuming and complicated measurement technologies that are usually performed in centralized laboratories, which is inadequate for early detection and rapid responses. In this talk, I will highlight a set of miniaturized sensor devices we developed recently that can perform rapid plant disease or stress detection directly in the field. Example field sensor platforms include 1) microneedle-based devices for performing rapid DNA/RNA extraction and on-site nucleic acid amplification, and 2) smartphone-based or wearable volatile organic compound (VOC) sensors for noninvasive and continuous plant physiology monitoring. These cost-effective sensors have been tested in lab settings or greenhouses for the early detection of a range of pathogens, such as Phytophthora infestans, Phytophthora Ramorum, and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), with high detection accuracy. The wearable plant patch also opens an opportunity for real-time monitoring of plant physiology and its microenvironment. Together, these sensor technologies demonstrated the feasibility of robust in-field detection of plant diseases and stresses of great concern.
