Wearable Tech For Plants Tells Farmers When Certain Crops Are About To Die
When plants are underfed, they give visual signals. Their leaves turn brown and shrivel up. However, these signs show up too late to salvage the plants. To make detection of water loss proactive instead of reactive, researchers have created a wearable sensor for plant leaves
Wearable technology for humans has changed our lives for the better. From fitness trackers to smart glasses, wearable tech has its charm. Its use value was first felt when Covid-19 hit and people were able to take certain life-saving readings from their smartwatches.
Now, scientists have created wearable technology for plants. Yep, the same plants that sustain humanity's dietary needs could soon signal to their caretakers that they're hungry or thirsty.
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When plants are underfed, they give visual signals. Their leaves turn brown and shrivel up. However, these signs show up too late to salvage the plants. To make detection of water loss proactive instead of reactive, researchers have created a wearable sensor for plant leaves.
How does this wearable tech for plants work?
The system essentially sends data wirelessly to a smartphone app, allowing users to remotely manage the potential of drought for certain crops, researchers reported in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Akin to how wearables with new health features work for humans, these plant wearables could help farmers monitor the health of their plants and crops remotely. They would be able to track leaf water content better - the key marker of metabolism among plants.
American Chemical Society
Also read: Scientists Fuse Implant With A Venus Flytrap, Paving Way For Human Brain Implants
For plants, researchers created two types of electrodes - "one made of nickel deposited in a narrow, squiggly pattern, and the other cut from partially burnt paper that was coated with a waxy film," TechXplore reported.
Apni Kheti
When nickel-based electrodes were attached to detached soybean leaves using a clear adhesive tape, they performed better - delivering larger signals as the leaves dried out. The researchers, then, created a wearable for plants using metal electrodes and attached it to a living plant in a greenhouse.
Also read: Plants Communicate With Each Other To Send Warnings On Animal Attacks: Study
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What the device essentially does is it sends data to a smartphone app and website remotely. When this data was fed to machine learning software, it accurately displayed the percent of water content lost. Researchers say that this information can in turn provide data about plants' exposure to pests and toxic agents.
What do you think about wearables for plants that could make growing and taking care of crops a lot easier? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.
References
Staff, S. X. (2022, May 4). A new wearable technology¡ªfor plants. TechXplore.
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