SMART research reveals promising uses of non-destructive sensors to enhance sustainable agriculture

The review aims to inspire future developments of non-destructive technologies for plant health diagnosis

Researchers from the Disruptive & Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, and their local collaborators from the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)  as well as the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE), National University of Singapore (NUS) have published a review.

The review discusses the recent advances in non-destructive plant health monitoring, ranging from electrochemical-based arrays to nanosensors and electronic noses, and why tracking plant health is an attractive and sustainable strategy that can be used to optimise crop growth practices. The review aims to inspire future developments of non-destructive technologies for plant health diagnosis.

“In light of the increasing demand for food due to the growing global population and concern over food security, developing innovative and sustainable technologies and tools to improve crop yield and quality is timely and essential. Non-destructive plant health monitoring stands as one of the key strategies for improving crop growth practices, complementing current agricultural techniques such as crop rotation, intercropping and genetic modification,” said Dr Gajendra Pratap Singh, Principal Investigator and Senior Scientific Director at DiSTAP.

“By tapping into plants’ physiological events in real-time, non-destructive sensors enable prompt adjustment of environmental conditions to augment crop productivity while minimising resource use,” added Dr Tedrick Thomas Salim Lew, Scientist at A*STAR’s IMRE and Adjunct Assistant Professor at NUS ChBE, who was the corresponding author of the article. 

The review aims to inspire future developments of