Speaker
Description
Natural enemies of herbivorous pests often use plant-provided signals to locate plants that carry potential prey. Particularly intriguing are so-called herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), which various plants release in large quantities only when they are attacked by insects. I will discuss ways in which HIPVs can be exploited for crop protection, with a focus on our efforts to utilize these highly specific plant-produced signals for the real-time detection of agricultural pests. With specific odor sensors we have been able to accurately distinguish healthy plants from plants that are under attack by insects or are infected by pathogens. We envision that these odor sensors can be placed on robotic rovers and allow farmers to determine the presence of specific pests on their crops before these pests do serious harm. The same rovers could also be used to apply biocontrol agents to control these pests, only when and where it is necessary. This should eventually result in a novel, cost-effective and sustainable crop protection strategy.
