Monitoring Water and Nutrient Flow in Plants

Measuring how water and nutrients flow in plants is challenging due to the need for non-invasive, high-precision detection in tiny volumes subject to environmental fluctuations.

Nanodiamond quantum sensors in flowing microdroplets could enable stable, sensitive chemical monitoring. Becaue the sensors are extremely sensitive to their surroundings and change their fluorescence when they encounter specific chemical markers or nutrients, they could be used to monitor the movement of specific ions or nutrients within a plant's sap flow in real-time.

This method could provide high-resolution insights into the plant’s health with a level of precision that traditional, less sensitive sensors cannot provide. This is essential for detecting the subtle signs of nutrient deficiency or stress in crops, allowing growers to adjust irrigation and fertilisers precisely.