Imaging and Detection of Botrytis Cinerea with Gigahertz Ultrasonic Imager

This paper demonstrates the detection of Botrytis cinerea, a necrotrophic fungus that can infect grapes, with a GHz ultrasonic CMOS integrated imager. The Botrytis spore solution (~0.1 spores/µm] was applied to the imaging surface of the ultrasonic imager. Water is pumped onto the surface periodically to compensate for the water evaporation and water consumption by the spores. The presence of Botrytis is detected, and its growth cycle is also recorded simultaneously from optical and ultrasonic images. The results of ultrasound imaging are consistent with those of optical imaging. The ultrasonic impedance of Botrytis is estimated to be 5.9-11.1 MRayls. The Botrytis cinerea images are also compared with those obtained from Metschnikowia Pulcherrima yeast, another ubiquitous organism on the surface of grapes. In the experiments, Botrytis grows slowly for the first 6–7 hours and then rapidly, whereas the yeast grows exponentially at first and then almost linearly. This observation is consistent with the biological expectation. This paper proves the effectiveness of ultrasonic imaging microorganisms, potentially facilitating early detection in agricultural systems The mixed sample with yeast and fungal spores is more complicated but different than each organism separately imaged. Controlled growth and image classification techniques can improve the specificity and selectivity by using the continuous voltage distribution images as inputs.