Emerging Wearable Sensors for Plant Health Monitoring

Emerging plant diseases, caused by pathogens, pests, and climate change, are critical threats to not only the natural ecosystem but also human life. To mitigate crop loss due to various biotic and abiotic stresses, new sensor technologies to monitor plant health, predict, and track plant diseases in real time are desired. Wearable electronics have recently been developed for human health monitoring. However, the application of wearable electronics to agriculture and plant science is in its infancy. Wearable technologies mean that the sensors will be directly placed on the surfaces of plant organs such as leaves and stems. The sensors are designed to detect the status of plant health by profiling various trait biomarkers and microenvironmental parameters, transducing bio-signals to electric readout for data analytics. In this perspective, the recent progress in wearable plant sensors is summarized and they are categorized by the functionality, namely plant growth sensors, physiology, and microclimate sensors, chemical sensors, and multifunctional sensors. The design and mechanism of each type of wearable sensors are discussed and their applications to address the current challenges of precision agriculture are highlighted. Finally, challenges and perspectives for the future development of wearable plant sensors are presented.