Detecting late blight in asymptomatic tomatoes through the analysis of volatile organic compound emission.

Abstract

Tomatoes are important vegetables that contribute to food security for all, income generation to small-landholder farmers across Uganda and a source of revenue for the government. Tomato production is faced with pests and diseases, which lower crop yield by at least 40%, hence, a reduction in the profits, increased food insecurity and reduced government revenue. The limited access to information by local farmers on how to identify the diseases further limits effective early disease diagnosis and pest infestation. This report includes an overview of studies that report on several ways of disease diagnosis using Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). We found that volatile organic compounds emitted from tomatoes provide functional information about health status of tomatoes and the possibility of using noninvasive detection of asymptomatic late blight infestation in tomatoes.