Potential Applications and Limitations of Electronic Nose Devices for Plant Disease Diagnosis

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 17; no. 11; p. 2596
• Main Authors: Cellini, Antonio, Blasioli, Sonia, Biondi, Enrico, Bertaccini, Assunta, Braschi, Ilaria, Spinelli, Francesco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 11.11.2017; MDPI
• Subjects: e-nose; Electronic Nose; gas sampling; Medical diagnosis; Nose; pest infestation; Plant Diseases; plant pathogen detection; Plants; relative humidity control; Review; sensor signal drift; Smell; VOCs; plant pathogen detection; sensor signal drift; VOCs; gas sampling; relative humidity control; e-nose; pest infestation
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s17112596

Electronic nose technology has recently been applied to the detection of several plant diseases and pests, with promising results. However, in spite of its numerous advantages, including operational simplicity, non-destructivity, and bulk sampling, drawbacks include a low sensitivity and specificity in comparison with microbiological and molecular methods. A critical review of the use of an electronic nose for plant disease diagnosis and pest detection is presented, describing the instrumental and procedural advances of sensorial analysis, for the improvement of discrimination between healthy and infected or infested plants. In conclusion, the use of electronic nose technology is suggested to assist, direct, and optimise traditionally adopted diagnostic techniques.