Bees can be trained to detect plant diseases

The super sensitive sensors of insects' antennae can detect vapor molecules in the low parts per billion, so a UC Davis researcher is seeking to train bees to pick up the subtle scent of plant disease before it can be seen by the human eye.

UC Davis plant pathology post-doc Andrew Sutherland designed an experiment that utilizes bees' sense of smell to alert farmers they may or may not need a fungicide spray to manage disease on their crops.

Sutherland's use of the classical conditioning method - like that used on Pavlov's dogs  - was described in a 2 1/2-minute video on ZDnet.com. Bees are restrained in tiny harnesses and, after being exposed to the smell of an infected grape leaf or berry, are fed a bit of sugar water.

"In time, the bees begin to associate the odor with a sugar reward," Sutherland says on the video.

Later, the trained bees are taken to the field inside a prototype box designed by Sutherland's collaborators at Los Alamos National Lab. When the bees detect the odor inside the box, they respond and the information is relayed to a computer.

The goal of the research is development of an early warning system for plant diseases so farmers can better plan fungicide applications, Sutherland said.

(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey.)

Read more