Space Travel News  
FARM NEWS
Device could deliver "life-saving" treatment to diseased fruit plants
by Sommer Brokaw
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 27, 2020

Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers have developed a precision injection system for plants to potentially help orange, olive and banana crops threatened by diseases.

The new system uses silk-based biomaterials to fabricate a microneedle-like device, which can inject nutrients, antibiotics or other pesticides into plants' circulatory systems, according to a study describing the system, published this month in the journal Advanced Science.

Researchers say the device could be used to start delivering "life-saving treatments" to orange, olive and banana crops under threat by diseases that affect their circulatory systems.

"We wanted to solve the technical problem of how you can have a precise access to the plant vasculature," graduate student Yunteng Cao, who led the development of the microneedle technology as part of his thesis project, said in a press release.

When pesticides are "simply sprayed" on the plant's leaves or stems, the pesticides barely penetrate to circulatory system if at all, MIT professor and researcher Benedetto Marelli said.

The "conventional treatment" may seem to work for a short while, he said, but then bacteria comes back to damage the plant since it's hard for the antibacterial compound to reach the roots. The new method could target the circulatory system to push the compound down into the roots.

Though needles have already been used to inject pesticides into plants, they have been "very large and very invasive," Cao said, which damages the plant.

The idea of using microneedles as a substitute was based on previous work that developed microneedles from silk-based materials to inject vaccines in humans.

To adapt the microneedles for plants, researchers said that they had to increase silk's hydrophilicity to make the silk attract water since plants have far less available water for the material to dissolve.

Researchers used tomato and tobacco plants for testing, but said the system could be adapted for use with almost any crop.


Related Links
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


FARM NEWS
DLR technologies for humanitarian aid
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Apr 20, 2020
Technologies developed for spaceflight must function under extreme conditions. Not only do systems and equipment need to be robust, safe, compact, lightweight and easy to use, but they must also function reliably and sometimes autonomously. Satellite technologies also provide a rapid and comprehensive view of Earth from above. These special properties also prove useful on Earth, not least for dealing with natural disasters and other extreme situations. In 2019, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsch ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

FARM NEWS
FARM NEWS
Nanocardboard flyers could serve as martian atmospheric probes

Surface Hot Springs May Have Existed on Ancient Mars

Mars 2020 Perseverance rover gets balanced

NASA's Curiosity Keeps Rolling As Team Operates Rover From Home

FARM NEWS
ESA helps analyse untouched Moon rocks

China's Chang'e-4 probe resumes work for 17th lunar day

Moon dust and 3D printing will be standard for future lunar operations

Time-travelling ESA team explore a virtual Moon

FARM NEWS
New Horizons pushing the frontier ever deeper into the Kuiper Belt

Mysteries of Uranus' oddities explained by Japanese astronomers

Jupiter's Great Red Spot shrinking in size, not thickness

Researchers find new minor planets beyond Neptune

FARM NEWS
Astronomers discover planet that never was

CHEOPS space telescope ready for scientific operation

HD 158259 and it's six planets almost in rhythm

Simulating early ocean vents shows life's building blocks form under pressure

FARM NEWS
NASA, SpaceX to Launch First Astronauts to Space Station from U.S. Since 2011

Scientific machine learning paves way for rapid rocket engine design

NASA announces first SpaceX crewed flight for May 27

US Rocketry Chief Offers Novel Explanation for Why America Continues to Buy Russia's RD-180 Engines

FARM NEWS
Parachutes guide China's rocket debris safely to earth

China to launch IoT communications satellites named after Wuhan

China's experimental manned spaceship undergoes tests

China's Long March-7A carrier rocket fails in maiden flight

FARM NEWS
Hubble probes alien comet's chemical makeup

Interstellar comet Borisov likely comes from a red dwarf star

Fragmentation of Comet ATLAS observed on the First Crowd-Sourced Pictures from Citizen Astronomers

Impacts on Asteroids Produce Regolith, Erase Small Craters









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.