Fruit Diseases
PhenoTruck
Mobile laboratory for the rapid and reliable identification of quarantine pathogens in agriculture
Quarantine pathogens pose a significant problem for agriculture. The aim of the project is therefore to use a mobile laboratory, the PhenoTruck, and AI-based rapid data analysis to bring the identification of quarantine pathogens to where they are needed: directly to the farmer.
The PhenoTruck is based on two pillars:
1. the large-scale monitoring using UAV and hyperspectral pathogen detection.
2. the molecular on-site pathogen identification in hyperspectrally detected suspicious samples.
The project partners combine the expertise of visual and molecular pathogen diagnostics (RLP AgroScience) with AI-based analysis of hyperspectral data (Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation, IFF) and the know-how to develop a mobile laboratory for field use (Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering, IBMT).
For the development of the PhenoTruck, the partners are using economically important phytoplasma diseases in fruit growing and viticulture, the symptoms of which can be detected with the help of specific spectral signatures using UAVs.
The following phytoplasma diseases are dealt with by RLP AgroScience:
Fruit tree phytoplasmas
Phytoplasma infestation of apples and pears leads to chlorophyll degradation, which manifests itself in premature leaf reddening in autumn. In the susceptible apricot, this already leads to typical leaf chlorosis in summer. These symptoms are used for remote disease detection using UAV. Molecular on-site diagnostics using LAMP must then confirm the infestation in suspicious samples.
Fig. 1: Apple proliferation
Fig. 2: Pear decline
Fig. 3: European stone fruit yellows
Grapevine phytoplasma diseases
Flavescence dorée (FD)
Palatinate Grapevine Yellows (PGY)
Bois noir (BN)
Fig. 4: Grapevine yellows
Grapevine yellows (Flavescence dorée, FD) is a quarantine disease caused by phytoplasmas that causes major damage in viticulture in southern Europe and is spreading further and further north. The symptoms of the disease are yellowing and curling of the leaves, drying, shrivelling and dropping of the berries, as well as a lack of lignification of the shoots. In white grape varieties, the yellowing manifests itself in a golden yellow discoloration of the leaves, in red grape varieties by a red coloration. FD is transmitted very efficiently from vine to vine by the introduced American grapevine leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus. An epidemic outbreak of the disease occurs when phytoplasma and leafhopper meet. S. titanus has been found in Alsace since 2016 and recently also in South Baden in Germany. FD phytoplasmas occur in native alders and are transmitted to grapevine by alder leafhoppers in rare cases. With the help of the risk maps created by RLP AgroScience, a first FD infestation was found in a German vine in 2020.
A closely related phytoplasma, Palatinate Grapevine Yellows Phytoplasma (PGY), is also transmitted from native alders to grapevine by leafhoppers. However, it cannot be spread by S. titanus in vine.
Another yellowing disease of the vine is bois noir, which is caused by a phytoplasma from a different phytoplasma group (Stolbur group). This is transmitted from herbaceous plants to grapevines by the ciciid Hyalesthes obsoletus, but cannot be spread in grapevine like FD.
The symptoms of all three grapevine phytoplasma diseases are identical. They are also suitable for spectral remote detection using UAV. However, a molecular test is required to distinguish the quarantine disease FD from the other two grapevine phytoplasmas. This is to be developed in the project and then used in the PhenoTruck's mobile laboratory.
Funding
