WageningenAn ecologist has traced soil’s smell to its microbe community.
It could give smallholder farmers a cheap alternative to costly DNA sequencing for soil testing.
Ecologist Rosa Boone found the volatile compounds fungi and bacteria emit can be captured and analyzed to build an electronic-nose sensor.
EU soil-monitoring rules are due soon, and researchers still must build a working sensor.
How each outlet framed it
- Phys.org
- profiles researcher Rosa Boone's electronic nose sensor development to analyze microbial soil life through smell analysis
Sources: Phys.org