The bright yellow infected pepper plants have been devastated the tomato chlorotic spot virus (TCSV), in Palm Beach County, Florida, on January 6, 2017.
The bright yellow infected pepper plants have been devastated the tomato chlorotic spot virus (TCSV), in Palm Beach County, Florida, on January 6, 2017.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists from Fort Pierce, FL and F1 K9, a licensed canine detection service company, to train dogs to detect TCSV, in New Smyrna Beach, FL, on Feb. 25, 2021.
Dogs can be trained to detect specific bacterial or viral pathogens in any part of a plant with greater than 99% accuracy, significantly faster than laboratory tests, and before visible symptoms are obvious. Conventional analysis typically uses only one leaf from a plant. At the early stages of infection, before the disease spreads throughout the plant, a healthy leaf may be taken from an infected plant resulting in a negative laboratory test. In contrast, dogs sample the entire plant while walking by and sniffing it. For more information, please go to ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2020/trained-dogs-are-the-most-efficient-way-to-hunt-citrus-industrys-biggest-threat/. USDA/ARS photo by Scott Atkins. Original public domain image from Flickr