Researchers Develop Microchip that can Measure Real-Time Water Stress

Researchers at the Cornell University's nanofabrication laboratory said they have developed a microsensor capable of measuring real-time water stress in living plants. The device may prove to be a necessity for farmers and plant growers, especially for vintners since drought and overwatering can severely diminish the quality of wine grapes.

The device, composed of a slab of hydrogel with nanometer-scale pores, acts as a synthetic tree that mimics the flow of water inside plants. The team hopes to design a sensor that will transmit field readings wirelessly to a central server; the data will then be summarized online for the grower. They have also begun the development of a multi-use sensor that redirects water flow inside the plant through a shunt. In this case, the sensor could measure the flow of water and mineral nutrients through the plant, in addition to water stress.

This multi-use sensor could be implanted throughout all  trees in a forest ecosystem to measure water use and nutrient flow on a large scale with unprecedented accuracy.

Read the original story at http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/July09/plantWaterStress.html