Sweet potato whitefly (Bemisia argentifolii) detection integrating plant volatiles, near infrared spectroscopy and environmental DNA in tomato plants for integrated pest management automation

Insect pest detection is a crucial part of successful pest management programs, yet it's still a slow and inaccurate process. Thus, we need more precise and faster pest detection tools and techniques. To make matters worse the sweetpotato whitefly (Bemisia argentifolii MEAM1 = B. tabaci) is a hard to detect but destructive insect pest that feeds on crops and transmit plant viruses wreaking havoc for growers if not detected in time. To improve pest scouting we propose a method that combines three techniques: 1) the detection of plant volatile compounds released by tomato plants when they are infected by insect pests using a zNose device, 2) near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), that allows for the detection of stress induced by whiteflies at the leaf level, and 3) the use of environmental DNA (eDNA), genetic material that is left behind by the insects to identify specific species, to obtain a comprehensive picture of the presence or absence of insect pests. Using these techniques, we have found that tomato plants infested with whiteflies emit a profile of volatiles that the zNose was able to detect. Furthermore, we were able to document stress using the NIRS system and we were able to detect the leftover whitefly genetic material left on the surface of tomato plant’s leaves. We expect that by integrating these techniques we can not only identify insect pests, but also increase the speed at which a pest invasion is detected, thus opening the door for potential automation of this process.