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Assessment of Physiological States of Plants in situ - An Innovative Approach to the use of Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy

Authors:
Elisabeth Ferreira
Mariana Sequeira
André Cortez
Helena Pereira
Tânia Pereira
Vânia Almeida
João Cardoso
Carlos Correia
Teresa Vasconcelos
Isabel Duarte
Neusa Nazaré

Keywords: plant disease; physiological state; hydric stress; biodiesel; impedance techniques

Abstract:
The fast spread of asymptomatic forest diseases, with no cure available to date, constitute a problem of economical and forestall huge proportions. Furthermore, there is a lack of equipments and systems able of assessing and characterizing the physiological state of plant organisms, both in the diagnosis of disease and as a mean for supporting physiological studies. It is known that electrical impedance measurements have been proving its value in the characterization of vegetal tissues. However, the available commercial solutions are expensive, unfeasible for in vivo and in situ measurements and unspecific for biological applications. Herein is proposed the usage of impedance techniques to assess the physiological state of plants. Emphasis is given to the assessment of the hydric stress level of plants and its relation with the disease condition. To accomplish the study, a portable electrical impedance spectroscopy system was designed attending the biological application purpose. In order to show the potential of this technique and system, the procedure and the results obtained for three different species (Pinus pinaster Aiton, Castanea sativa Mill and Jatropha Curcas L), with economical and/or forestall interest, is also presented.

Pages: 1 to 8

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2013

Publication date: March 24, 2013

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4383

ISBN: 978-1-61208-260-8

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Dates: from March 24, 2013 to March 29, 2013