Anyone who has tried to keep porch plants and home gardens alive through seasonal changes knows that it is a task that is easier than they say. Abrupt temperature changes like cold snaps and prolonged periods of drought can highlight plants and disrupt normal biochemistry. If not dealt quickly enough, these stresses can ultimately kill the plants. Disappointed growers often see signs of the story (such as wrinkles and brown leaves) after it’s too late. However, new plant resistance devices developed by researchers at the American Chemical Society may provide an early warning system.
Wearable, This week I explained in detail in the journal ACS sensor, It is provided in the form of an electromagnetic sensor attached directly to the plant’s leaves. Its purpose is to detect hydrogen peroxide, which chemical plants release when exposed to environmental stress. The sensor consists of a series of microscopic plastic needles mounted on a flexible base. The base is coated with a chitosan-based hydrogel that can detect small amounts of hydrogen peroxide, which is converted to current. Its current presence warns growers of the plant’s stress levels.
Credit: ACS Sensor 2025, Adaptation from doi: 10.1021/acssensors.4C02645
In several experiments, wearables accurately identified the presence of hydrogen peroxide in groups of pathogen-exposed plants. In theory, studies point out that similar types of wearables can be applied to larger crop yields as an affordable method to detect stressed plants before they exceed savings.
“This sensor technology can serve as a portable device for on-site measurement of reactive oxygen species in plants, providing a rapid and cost-effective solution for the quantification of hydrogen peroxide,” the researchers wrote in their paper.
Identify stressed plants
Many environmental factors such as drought, salinity, pests and pathogens can cause stress in plants. When that happens, plants naturally produce hydrogen peroxide, and researchers say it “acts as an indicator of acute stress.” This indicates that plant cells activate a variety of defense mechanisms. If the stressor lasts too long, it can ultimately kill the plant. In the past, researchers monitored early signs of plant stress by taking small samples and observing changes in fluorescence. But neither of these options are perfect. Eating samples can damage the plant and cause unique stress, and searching for changes in fluorescence can be difficult to clearly detect.
That’s where plant wearables come in. By attaching electrochemical sensors directly to the plant’s leaves, researchers believed that the plant could achieve a myopia response while minimizing physical disruption. In practice, the sensor’s microneedles penetrate plant tissues and detect hydrogen peroxide without the need to collect leaf sap extracts. The microneedle surface is coated with a thin layer of gold and mixed with a biohydrogel made up of biocompatible and hydrophilic chitosan and Western Walladish peroxidase enzyme.
Credit: ACS Sensor 2025, Adaptation from doi: 10.1021/acssensors.4C02645
Researchers attached these sensors to several groups of tobacco and soybean plants. Some of these plants were exposed to bacterial pathogens called Pseudomonas syringae pv. Tomato DC3000 Although the control remained healthy. As expected, sensors attached to infected plants are immediately showing signs of hydrogen peroxide and showing stress. Researchers say the current levels measured by the sensors were also “directly related” to the amount of hydrogen peroxide oozed out. The same patch can be reused up to nine more times before the needle wears down and loses its shape.
“You can achieve direct measurements within a minute for less than a dollar per test,” researcher and paper co-author Liang Dong said in a statement. “This breakthrough will greatly streamline the analysis, making it practical for farmers to use patch sensors for real-time disease crop monitoring.”
Don and his co-authors are optimistic that they will potentially expand the technology to help farmers and gardeners remotely monitor signs of health disruptions. It is part of a larger, new trend in the agricultural industry AI-enabled monitoring sensor And even autonomous robots that provide round-the-clock care to plants. And the stakes are high. Every year, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture estimate Approximately 20-30% of global crop production is lost to pests and diseases, converting into estimated losses of over $220 billion.
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