Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
virus or bacteria in food systems is another potential use of nanotechnology. This
will result in greater safety within the food processing system.
Within crops, nanotechnology will provide rapid and sensitive identification of
pathogens, pests, nutrient and stress deficiencies. Crop protection and fertilisation
remedies will be supplied and applied automatically in nano-packages by a com-
missioned supplier. Multiple chips, nano-biosensors, will offer fundamental steps
forward in the automated control of production, storage and marketing. Predomi-
nantly, this satisfies consumers' demands for enhanced food quality, safety, stability,
efficiency and traceability. As an example of what might be achieved in the field of
food safety, a rapid and sensitive method was developed for separation and detec-
tion of multiple pathogens in a food matrix by magnetic surface-enhanced Raman
scattering (SERS) nanoprobes. Silica-coated magnetic probes (MNPs@SiO
2
) of
~ 100 nm in diameter were first prepared via the reverse micro-emulsion method us-
ing cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as a surfactant and tetraethyl orthosilicate as
the silica precursor (Wang et al.
2011
). In this system, pathogens were first immu-
no-magnetically captured with MNPs@SiO
2
, and pathogen-specific SERS probes
(gold nanoparticles) integrated with a Raman reporter. This was equipped with cor-
responding antibodies to allow the formation of a sandwich assay to complete the
sensor module. The detection of multiple pathogens in selected food matrices could
be achieved by changing the kinds of Raman reporters on SERS probes. In this
research two key pathogens,
Salmonella enterica
serovar
typhimurium
and
Staphy-
lococcus aureus
, were selected as models to illustrate the capacity of this scheme
for detecting several pathogens. The lowest cell concentration detected in a spinach
solution was 10
3
CFU/mL. A blind test conducted in peanut butter established the
limit of detection as 10
3
CFU/mL with high specificity, demonstrating the potential
of this approach in complex matrices.
Robotics, Automation and Electronics
Since 1986 the rate of worldwide technological change has been breathtaking based
on changes from analogue to digital electronic systems. Systems, devices and func-
tions will get ever faster and smaller. This is the micro-age (10
−6
) and fast approach-
ing is the nano-age (10
−9
) and by 2035 the pico-age (10
−12
) age should be appar-
ent. Electronic devices of atomic and sub-atomic scale will manage information
exchanges, processes and product deliveries. A big advance is most likely to come
from replacing silicon-based with carbon-based systems. These mimic DNA-RNA
storage, transmission and function initiation, controlling data at faster and cheaper
rates with increased efficiency. Delivery will be wireless and data will be shared
and stored by cloud-computing which will handle huge amounts of data in nano-
seconds. Fast biosensors will have the capacity to control crop growing, harvesting,
storage and marketing.
Muscle powered work is disappearing from primary industries like horticul-
ture. Robotics and autonomous systems are being developed for horticultural field
production (Bechar
2010
). These systems must be able to operate in unstructured
