research worker from the Disruptive & Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision ( DiSTAP ) Interdisciplinary Research Group ( IRG ) of Singapore - MIT Alliance for Research and Technology ( SMART ) , MIT ’s inquiry enterprise in Singapore and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory ( TLL ) have find a way to practice Raman spectrum analysis for former espial of shade dodging syndrome ( SAS ) in plant . The discovery can help James Leonard Farmer with timely intervention against SAS , leading to better industrial plant health and crop yield .
SAS is an adaptive reaction and an irreversible phenomenon , where plant contact for more luminousness to sweep over shaded condition . It is normally seen in industrial plant experiencing vegetal shade which is detrimental to plant health , as it leads to a number of issues include hindrance of leaf development , former florescence and weakening of the plant ’s structure and immune arrangement .
Thus , other detection of SAS is key for sustainable agriculture and improved harvest yield . However , existing methods for catching of SAS in plants are restrict to observing structural changes , make it hard to detect SAS early on .
In a paper titled “ speedy metabolite response in leaf blade and leafstalk as a marker for shade avoidance syndrome ” published in the prestigious daybook Plant Methods , SMART DiSTAP and TLL scientists explain their new way of life of observe SAS ahead of time on , allowing farmers to intervene in fourth dimension to forbid the irreversible effects of SAS . The team construct a tabletop Raman spectroscopy legal document that take into account measurement of carotenoid stratum in plants , which can indicate whether a plant has SAS .
“ Our experiments with Raman spectroscopy find a decrease in the carotenoid contents of plants that have SAS , ” said Dr. Gajendra Pratap Singh , co - first generator of the paper and Scientific Director and Principal Investigator at DiSTAP . “ While plants with longer picture to shade off developed more severe SAS , these morphological changes were only seen after one to three days . However , changes in the carotenoid bill intensities were detected much earlier , from just four hours of shade handling . ”
Raman spectroscopy and the carotenoid Raman peak give up for other signal detection of Shade Avoidance Syndrome ( SAS ) in the ( a ) model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and ( b ) leafy vegetables Kai Lan and Choy Sum . Diagrams adapted from Sng et al . , 2020 . Plant Methods 16 : 144 . Credits : SMART
Using Raman spectroscopy , the scientist are capable to non - destructively value carotenoid content in the plant leaves , and have chance upon its correlation to the severeness of SAS and as a summit biomarker for early diagnosis . This cuts down the time drive to detect SAS from Day to a matter of hours . The method can also be used to find SAS in plants due to gamy - density planting and can be particularly useful to improve urban farming practices .
“ We guide our experiments on a identification number of edible plant , including ofttimes consumed Asiatic vegetable like Kai Lan and Choy Sum , ” said Mr. Benny Jian Rong Sng , the newspaper ’s co - first source and PhD scholar from Dr. In - Cheol Jang ’s radical at TLL and Department of Biological Sciences , National University of Singapore . “ Our results showed that Raman spectroscopy can be used to find SAS , induced by shade as well as high - density planting . disregardless of the food harvest , this engineering can be use to improve agriculture and to meet the nutritional demands of today ’s growing populations . ”
Dr. In - Cheol Jang , Principal Investigator at TLL and DiSTAP , who led the project said the novel find can go a retentive way in assisting farmers to improve urban land practice . “ We look forward to helping urban farmers attain higher crop proceeds by observe SAS within shorter time periods . By adopting scalable , preciseness agri - technologies like Raman spectroscopy - enabled sensor , we can better put metropolis like Singapore to grow more produce with less resources , while achieving desirable nutritional profiles for planetary food security . ”
DiSTAP carbon monoxide - lead Principal Investigator Professor Chua Nam Hai and Principal Investigator Professor Rajeev Ram also co - authored the article .
The inquiry was supported by the National Research Foundation ( NRF ) Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise ( CREATE ) plan .
For more information : distap.mit.edusmart.mit.edu
