Technical
“We won’t have to wait until we actually see or smell the symptoms for ourselves, the Electronic Nose will warn us if anything is wrong well before that time”
detect any chemical compounds which pass by them. They then feed the data into a computer, which then analyses the data and comes up with the identity of the smell from within its database, each smell having been previously identified and stored in the memory banks. There are, and always will be, an
incredible number of uses for Electronic Noses. Whether it is for quality control within the food industry, monitoring a person’s health or searching for drugs, these devices will be incredibly important because, the thing is that, ‘everything’ has a smell. Electronic Noses are becoming so incredibly sensitive that they will be able to identify smells at such an early stage that they will enable us to make incredibly well informed management decisions. We won’t have to wait until we actually see or smell the symptoms for ourselves, the Electronic Nose will warn us if anything is wrong well before that time. In the examples given, the Electronic Nose will tell us exactly when food begins to “go off ” because of the smell. It will be able to detect many illnesses and ailments at a very early stage because of the smell ... and what does it mean for us greenkeepers and groundsmen?
It means that we will be able to detect,
incredibly accurately, whenever out turf comes under attack from any pest, disease or stress situation - well before we can see any symptoms ourselves. And not only that, it will tell us which grass species is affected, exactly where it is on the green and even tell us exactly what disease, pest or disorder is involved.
Remarkable stuff ...
So, we will know exactly when to apply, for example, a fungicide and can choose the most appropriate active ingredient. It will tell us if we need to spray for leatherjackets, or whether or not we need to irrigate certain areas, and all because of the smell.
This will mean healthier turf and much, much more efficient use of pesticides, which has to be good for the planet. If we take it to the ultimate, we could hook up the Electronic Nose to our sprayer and, using a little GPS technology, we would be able to drive over our precious putting surfaces and literally spot treat infected areas, automatically eliminating the need to spray the whole green. This will significantly reduce pesticide inputs, saving costs and saving the environment.
When will this actually happen?
It is happening right now. As far as we are concerned, it will happen in agriculture first, and we will get it later. As I write, very clever people are calibrating their Electronic Noses in farmer’s fields, detecting and memorising all the millions of different smells. The ultimate challenge facing mankind is the one of feeding seven billion people, whilst utilising less water, less fertiliser and less pesticides. Electronic Noses are set to play their part in helping us to take on these challenges. It might take some time to trickle down to us, the main problem being the question of money. Electronic Noses are not cheap, especially when balanced with the cost of the pesticides we currently use, so it will be a real challenge to make it cost effective but, when it becomes real, it will change turfcare professionals’ lives. So, one day in the future, when our
greens are “Crying for Help”, we will not continue to ignore these cries in blissful ignorance. Indeed, we will be actively “listening”, and the world will be a better place for it.
Tony Kvedaras, Director, Independent Turfcare Solution Ltd.
Red Thread APRIL/MAY 2012 PC 123
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