Potential new tool for frost screening in crops

Date:
October 2, 2020
Source:
University of Adelaide
Summary:
Agricultural scientists and engineers have identified a potential
new tool for screening cereal crops for frost damage.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Agricultural scientists and engineers at the University of Adelaide
have identified a potential new tool for screening cereal crops for
frost damage.


========================================================================== Their research, published this week in the journal Optics Express,
has shown they can successfully screen barley plants for frost damage non-destructively with imaging technology using terahertz waves (which lie between the microwave and infrared waves on the electromagnetic spectrum).

"Frost is estimated to cost Australian grain growers $360 million in
direct and indirect losses every year," says project leader Professor
Jason Able, at the University's School of Agriculture, Food and Wine.

"To minimise significant economic loss, it is crucial that growers'
decisions on whether to cut the crop for hay or continue to harvest
are made soon after frost damage has occurred. However, analysing
the developing grains for frost damage is difficult, time-consuming
and involves destructive sampling." Frost damage can happen when the reproductive organs of the plant are exposed to air temperatures below
0DEGC during the growing season, with the amount of damage dependent on
the severity and occurrence of frost events.

Cereal crops like barley and wheat show a wide range of susceptibility
to frost damage depending on the genetics, management practices,
environmental conditions and their interactions. For example, one-degree difference in temperature could result in frost damage escalating from
10% to 90% in wheat.

Supported by the University's Waite Research Institute and the Grains
Research and Development Corporation, the researchers tested whether a state-of-art imaging system at the Terahertz Engineering Laboratory in
the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, could be used to
scan both barley and wheat spikes for frost damage.

Terahertz waves are able to penetrate the spike to determine differences between frosted and unfrosted grains.

"Barley and wheat spikes subjected to frost do not necessarily show
symptoms for many days until after the frost event," says Professor
Able. "This technology holds promise for identifying frost damage before symptoms can be visibly detected." The researchers, including Dr Wendy
Lee, Dr Ariel Ferrante and Associate Professor Withawat Withayachumnankul, found that terahertz imaging can discriminate between frosted and
unfrosted barley spikes, and that the results were repeatable over many
scans. This imaging technology was also able to determine individual
grain positions along the length of the individual spike.

"This technology could possibly be developed into a field-based tool,
which could be used by growers and agronomists to assist with their
crop management and help minimise losses due to frost," says Professor
Able. "The technology as it stands could also be used by plant breeders
to make more rapid and more informed selection decisions about the
performance of one breeding line over many others." Further R&D
is required to enable field deployment of terahertz non-destructive
inspection for early frost damage and the research team is looking to
develop a working prototype for field tests with other collaborators.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Adelaide. Original
written by Robyn Mills.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Wendy S. L. Lee, Ariel Ferrante, Withawat Withayachumnankul,
Jason A.

Able. Assessing frost damage in barley using terahertz
imaging. Optics Express, 2020; 28 (21): 30644 DOI: 10.1364/OE.404618 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201002093839.htm

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