SensoSap Project Completed: Transforming Greenhouse Crop Management!

We are thrilled to announce the successful completion of the SensoSap project, a transformative journey spanning two years that has brought us closer to revolutionizing sap testing in greenhouse crops.

The project

To provide a bit of background, current methods of testing either the leaf tissue or leaf sap depending on sending samples to a laboratory.
Besides the time and cost involved, there is a monopoly of certain labs that offer services, which do not make their methods know. Hence the same results cannot be replicated or proven correct.

Our approach to sap analysis was to use the petiole and therefore extract liquids directly from the xylem and phloem before it has been metabolized in the leaf.
The benefits of this approach is that we measure the supply at a given time point, rather than what has been metabolized over the past two weeks into the leaves.

Outcomes

In the initial phase, we developed a reliable method for mechanical sap extraction from leaves or petioles. The method focused on using a simplistic approach through a garlic press, that can easily be replicated by agronomists in the greenhouse.

Cultivating distinct nutritional treatments for tomatoes and strawberries formed the core of the project's second phase. Collaboration with our customers provided diverse plant material, contributing to the success of this package.

The development of assays for Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), and Sulphate (S) enriched our proprietary Lab-on-a-Chip platform, achieving high accuracy and precision metrics on a laboratory instrument (Spectrophotometer). We navigated challenges, including adapting plans from sugars to Sulphate based on customer needs.

The crucial work package involved integrating newly developed assays into our cartridge and reader platform for portable analysis. Challenges related to device calibration and device measurement error were overcome through collaboration with Prevas A/S, while our own team worked tirelessly to ensure repeatability on the cartridge side.

The final stage focused on evaluating test performance, achieving an average accuracy of ~88% and 90% precision for sap extracted from tomato and strawberry plants, validated internally with the laboratory method used to develop the assays.

Way forward

We were lucky to discover and overcome certain challenges early on in the project, such as the necessary shift from sugars to Sulphate in offering and the complexity of working with multiple crop types.

As we celebrate this milestone, we express gratitude to all stakeholders, especially GUDP, for their unwavering support.

The next steps of this project include further validation with greenhouses that cultivate tomatoes and strawberries to determine decision guidelines.

Stay tuned for updates on how SensoSap is shaping the future of greenhouse crop management!

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