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Application of Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Wheat Crop: Early Disease Detection and Associated Molecular Changes

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Abstract

The application of fluorescence spectroscopy combined with chemometrics was explored in the current study for the detection of stripe rust in wheat. The healthy and stripe rust leaves were collected from the disease screening nursery. The variations in the blue-green region and chlorophyll fluorescence intensity in leaves provides the basis for the detection of stripe rust infection. With the progress of disease, the variations in the synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy (SFS) spectrum was witnessed. SFS is an excellent tool for the simultaneous measurement of multiple compound samples, in case of plants it generates evidence regarding the occurrence of leaf fluorophore bands thus revealing the biochemical variations going on at different infection stages. Based on the results of the current study, it is inferred that p-coumaric acid has the highest intensity in healthy samples followed by the asymptomatic leaf samples, whereas the band intensity of α-tocopherol, sinapic acid, chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, tannins, flavonoid, carotenoids and anthocyanins increases in the diseased and the asymptomatic samples accordingly to the rust infection. Principal component analysis (PCA) beautifully differentiated the healthy and the infected leaf samples. It is evident that the asymptomatic samples are grouped with the diseased samples or independently; indicating the start of disease infection, the decision that is hard to make with the visual assessments. The results of the current study suggest that the fluorescence emission and the SFS spectral signatures acquired for stripe rust could be utilized as fingerprints for early disease detection.

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Acknowledgements

Greatly appreciate Zulfiqar Ali, Principal Scientist, NILOP for his assistance in preparing the samples for spectral analysis. We are also grateful to Rahat Ullah, Principal Scientist, NILOP for useful discussions and improving the draft of the manuscript.

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  1. Agri. & Biophotonics Division, National Institute of Lasers and Optronics College, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nilore, Islamabad, 45650, Pakistan

    Babar Manzoor Atta, Muhammad Saleem, Hina Ali & Muhammad Bilal

  2. Crop Diseases Research Institute (CDRI), National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Park Road, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan

    Muhammad Fayyaz

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  1. Babar Manzoor Atta
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Atta, B.M., Saleem, M., Ali, H. et al. Application of Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Wheat Crop: Early Disease Detection and Associated Molecular Changes. J Fluoresc 30, 801–810 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-020-02561-8

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