Discrimination between healthy and tomato spotted wilt virus infected tomato plants by means of temperature-modulated gas sensors
Year: 2026
Authors: Pennacchio C., Miotti N., Turina M., Ciuffo M., Gobbi E., Maghrebi M., Bossi S., Vigani G., Faglia G., Baratto C., Ponzoni A.
Autors Affiliation: CNR, Natl Inst Opt, CNR INO, Brescia Unit, Via Branze 45, I-25123 Brescia, Italy; Univ Brescia, Dept Informat Engn, Via Branze 38, I-25123 Brescia, Italy; CNR, CNR IPSP, Inst Sustainable Plants Protect, St Cacce 73, I-10135 Turin, Italy; Univ Brescia, Dept Mol & Translat Med, Viale Europa 11, I-25123 Brescia, Italy; Univ Turin, Innovat Ctr, Dept Life Sci & Syst Biol, Via Quarello 15-A, I-10135 Turin, Italy.
Abstract: Plant virus diseases represent a major issue in agriculture, with relevant economic impact. The correlation between the plant health status and the emission of characteristics volatiles has been well established in the literature of analytical chemistry. However, the development of a cost-affordable technology suitable to work infield for the automatic detection of these olfactive signals remains a major challenge in gas sensing. In this work, we investigated the use of metal oxide gas sensors working with temperature modulation to detect the outbreak of tomato spotted wilt virus infection in tomato plants, chosen as a relevant case study. To handle sensor-to-sensor reproducibility issues and plants’ individualities we designed experiments comprising 8 plants per time, each equipped with a dedicated sensor. Considering the complex time dependence of plants’ emissions and infection-independent interfering effects, we adopted an analysis method exploiting the signals from the whole network. Results indicates that the proposed technology detects the outbreak of infection through the detection of an anomalous signals from individual sensors with respect to the common behavior of the network, and is potentially suitable for autonomous, non-invasive, in-field operation. Polymerase Chain Reaction and Gas-Chromatography Mass-Spectroscopy characterizations suggest that the sensing system respond mainly to volatiles of plant tissues damage. These results indicate the potentialities of this technology for the development of a distributed network aimed at a non-invasive monitoring of plants health status in greenhouses.
Journal/Review: SENSORS AND ACTUATORS B-CHEMICAL
Volume: 460 Pages from: 139921-1 to: 139921-10
More Information: Funding This research has been partially funded by the European Union – NextGeneration EU, within PRIN 2022, PNRR M4C2, Project Optical and olfactory sensorial devices to investigate plant-microbe interactions in a model horticultural crop 2022JZAA9W [CUP: B53D23002700006] .KeyWords: Metal oxide gas sensors; Temperature modulation; Tomato spotted wilt virus; Tomato plantsDOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2026.139921
