Technologies

Agricultural Sciences

Title:

Non-invasive early sensing of soft rot and dry rot in stored potato tubers by analysis of volatile organic compound emission

Area:

Agricultural Sciences

Focus Area:

Non-invasive E-nose sensor

Status:

Calibrated and tested extensively and filing of patent is on process.

Patent:

Filing of patent is in progress.

Company Transferred:

Not tranfered

Social Benefits:

Potato, the third most important crop in terms of consumption after rice and wheat, feeds hundreds and millions of people throughout the year. Owing to tropical and sub-tropical conditions, post-harvest loss due to storage accounts to 40-50%. Dry rot (caused by Fusarium sambucinum) and Soft rot (caused by Erwinia carotovora) cause huge post-harvest loss. This technology will help farmers for the early detection of soft rot and dry rot disease which is major post-harvest disease of potato, causing major loss in potato yield. In current age of smart phones, the technology can be easily transferred to grassroot level, where it can be accessed by farmers very easily. It can save time and labour intensified in identifying loss of production.

Developing Agency:

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Uttarakhand

Technology Readiness Index:

TRL - 5

Brief Description

Description :

E-nose based sensor development is aimed for early detection before appearance of symptoms in post-harvest diseased condition in potato. The E-nose sensor prototype developed for the purpose uses an array of sensor. It uses volatile detection with a small heating element designed to react to VOCs only when very small amount is injected in the specialized chamber for injection. The chamber remains air-tight and pumped after each use to eliminate noise. The results from the sensor indicate steady detection in laboratory conditions where the sensor array is used to sense altogether.

Related Technologies