TALKING THE (PLANT) TALK By Dee Shore
One day soon, tiny electronic sensors will take precision farming to the next level. They will translate the language of plants and send waves of data to growers, giving a heads-up at their crops’ first talk of trouble ... and our cross-college partnership is leading the way. Plants have a lot to say, if you know their language and listen. At NC State, scientists and engineers are collaborating across colleges to learn that language and devise electronic devices sensitive enough to detect pests, pathogens and other stressors before the plants show visible signs of trouble. Principal investigator and CALS professor Ralph Dean says the project’s goal is to show that it’s possible to develop an early-warning system using electronic sensors that reliably and accurately translate a plant’s messages in real time — fast enough, he hopes, for farmers to intervene to prevent crop loss. This is an early example of what’s possible through the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative, investigator and food science microbiologist Sophia Kathariou said. “To me, this is science at its best, bringing together people who may not speak the same language but who can share insights and understand ones offered from other perspectives,” Kathariou said.
Smell fresh-cut grass? You’re eavesdropping. Of course, plants can’t talk out loud, but their cells do have ways to communicate with each other and with other nearby plants. One way is by emitting aromatic chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, explains Dean, a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology. If you’ve ever smelled freshly mowed grass, then you’ve encountered the VOCs it emits when it’s been wounded. Those VOCs are noticeably different than compounds emitted when, say, a greenhouse plant has been infected by powdery mildew or attacked by disease-carrying thrips.
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CALS MAGAZINE
