Plant Biospectroscopy for Stress Detection

Dear Colleagues,

The performance of plants in their natural, uncultivated habitats and agricultural environments is strongly under the control of abiotic and biotic stresses. The process driving the growth and development of all plants is photosynthesis. During this process, absorbed light energy will be converted into chemical energy (ATP and NADPH) by the cooperation of pigment–protein complexes in the so-called light reactions. This energy is then the driving force to reduce carbon dioxide into sugars in the Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle. From here on, other organic components necessary for biomass production will be synthesized. However, part of the absorbed light will be reemitted as fluorescence.

Leaves are characterized by the spatial heterogeneity of the photosynthetic performance, which reflects metabolic differences in different cells. These may be caused by internal factors such as variations in cell/leaf physiology during development or by external abiotic/biotic stresses. Visual manifestations of stress are well documented but cannot discriminate enough between similar symptoms induced by different stresses. Additionally, they do not give sufficient information on the underlying physiological processes. Powerful, non-invasive tools to resolve the spatial heterogeneity are spectral reflectance spectroscopy at well-defined wavelengths in the visible and infra-red range and blue/green and red/far-red fluorescence imaging.

This Special Issue will focus on the exploitation of the UV-induced blue-green fluorescence, the passive/active induced chlorophyll fluorescence and spectroscopic imaging to analyze plant stresses.

To retrieve robust and reliable quantitative information from the images and couple this with physiological and structural parameters, research papers combining these disciplines will be welcome.

Original research papers and reviews about the following topics in relation to plant abiotic/biotic stress (abiotic stress: drought/water, temperature, mineral/nutrient, air pollution, mechanical, etc.; biotic stress: viral, bacterial and fungal infections/diseases, insect infestations, etc.):

• Spectroscopic methods;
• Multi/Hyperspectral spectroscopy and imaging;
• Proximal and remote (active/passive) multicolour fluorescence imaging methods;
• Fluorescence induction and kinetics—modulated fluorescence;
• Multispectral fluorescence imaging systems for plant leaves;
• Systems for imaging variable chlorophyll fluorescence;
• Sequential Excitation/Emission Imaging;
• Laser-induced plant fluorescence lifetime imaging;
• Sun-induced fluorescence;
• Retrieval of fluorescence from solar Fraunhofer lines;
• Quantification of non-photochemical quenching mechanisms;
• Image processing—image segmentation;
• Statistical and classification analysis methods;
• Neural network and machine learning protocols/algorithms—phenotyping;
• Physiological and structural analysis methods.

Dr. Roland Valcke
Dr. Jayme Garcia Arnal Barbedo
Dr. Maria Gabriela Lagorio
Dr. Micol Rossini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Nutrient/mineral stress in ecosystems and crops
• Fluorescence imaging of vegetation
• Image analysis
• Non-photochemical quenching
• Phenotyping
• Applications in ecology and agriculture