Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Program
8.13 - Plant Production and Protection-Engineering
Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
SMALL BUSINESS GRANT
Division
NIFA Non Formula
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Project Director
Fink, Richard
Accession Number
1006181
Grant Number
2015-33610-23477
Project Number
TEXK-2015-00735
Proposal Number
2015-00735
Dates
2015-06-01 - 2016-01-31
Grant Year
2015
Cumulative Award Amount
$99,990.00
Animal Health Component
100%
Recipient Organization
Applied Nanotech Inc.
3006 Longhorn Blvd.
Austin,TX 78758
Keywords
asian citrus psyllid
hlb
plant pathogens
vocsm huanglongbing
volatile organic compounds
Research Effort
Applied (100%)
Basic (0%)
Developmental (0%)
Classification Parameters
| Knowledge Area | Subject of Investigation | Field of Science | Percent |
|---|
| 402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment |
999 - Citrus, general/other |
2020 - Engineering |
75% |
| 212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants |
999 - Citrus, general/other |
1000 - Biochemistry and biophysics |
25% |
Non-technical Summary
There are several diseases that are attacking citrus crops world-wide. The citrus industry desperately needs early detection of these infections. However, there are no low-cost, robust diagnostic tests currently available for early identification of citrus diseases under field conditions. This proposal directly responds to the need to reduce the impact of plant diseases and insect pests on citrus crops by developing a means of early detection.Canine detection of citrus diseases is now being applied and shown to be effective. Canine detection is dependent on the recognition of the unique odor signatures. We are proposing to develop a low-cost (
Goals / Objectives
- Develop a low-cost approach for collecting VOCs for analysis in the ANI EZKnowz® or other similar equipment such as a gas chromatograph + mass spectrometer. This will be materials and process development to produce a functional, low-cost, VOC sampling approach. We will cost model our approach for collecting VOCs.
- Demonstrate that the low-cost VOC odor collection approach is capable of identifying HLB-infected trees from non-infected trees. We will demonstrate the functionality by building a library of VOC odor signature collected using the approach. We will test known HLB-infected trees (confirmed by PCR) and known HLB-negative (also confirmed by PCR). We will focus on sweet orange (Valencia and Hamlin) for the demonstration; other citrus will be tested in Phase II. We plan to test a minimum of 100 trees with a target of 300 trees. Using the library, we will then proceed to a blind test of 30 trees minimum to validate the model.
- Minimize and/or account for variability in differences in treatment of PDMS material during preparation, sampling, storage/shipping and analysis. We will achieve this objective by sampling in Florida (grove environment), South Texas (grove and residential environments), and California (containment facility greenhouse). We will test shelf life, shipping and storage conditions. Many tests related to preparing the PDMS samples to reduce background signals will be on blank samples at ANI.
Methods (unparsed)
We are proposing to develop a sampling protocol that will be low-cost (
Methods
We are proposing to develop a sampling protocol that will be low-cost (
Project Timeline Tracking
Outputs
Target Audience
The target audience is made up of scientists, researchers and state & federal regulators that are interested in early detection technologies of Haunglongbing (HLB) and similar bacterial infections.
Changes / Problems
We changed the means of acquiring volatile signatures from using PDMS membranes to using needle sampling. This is reported in both the interim and final reports.
Training & Professional Development
Nothing Reported
Dissemination Streams
Early data (before the SBIR program started) was reported to the IRCHLB IV Conference in Orlando, Florida, February 9-13, 2015., We expect to participate in IRCHLB V in early 2017.
Next Reporting Steps
Nothing Reported