A new device that can measure real-time water stress in living plants is being developed by researchers at Cornell University, in the United States. The sensor, which was conceptualized to measure water stress in grape vines so vintners can strike the precise balance between drought and overwatering, also has implications for manufacturing, food processing and electronics. The sensor was developed after Abraham Stroock, associate professor of chemical engineering, developed a synthetic tree that mimics the flow of water inside plants using a slab of hydrogel with nanometer-scale pores. Alan Lasko, a researcher at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York, then worked with the nanofabrication laboratory at Cornell to develop an embedded microsensor that will transmit field readings wirelessly to a central server. The team is looking ahead at developing alternative sensors that could enhance research in fields from food science to forestry. One potential sensor, described as a “lab-on-a-chip”, could redirect water flow inside a plant through a shunt, and measure both flow of water and mineral nutrients within the plant. Such a sensor could be implanted in trees in a forest ecosystem, monitoring water use and nutrient flow on a large scale with unprecedented accuracy. According to Taryn Bauerle, assistant professor of horticulture, “[A]ll of these [researchers'] brains are coming together. There’s no limit to where we can take this type of technology.” The article can be viewed online at the link below.
