Utilizing peanut volatile organic compounds to quantify stress level during hydraulic redistribution

Directly sensing drought stress in a plant is relatively difficult and is often assessed through indirect measurements, most frequently utilizing soil moisture. However, recent scientific efforts and advances have shown the volatile organic compounds (Voes) that are released from the plant canopy in gas form can be indicative of a host of stresses, including feeding from insects, drought stress and even aflatoxin formation. This information is currently not available for peanut, but could prove extremely helpful in managing drought and aflatoxin formation in peanut production. Our preliminary evidence from NPB supported work in 2016 and 2017 indicates that average voe signatures do differ among peanut plants under differential levels of water deficit stress. In this work, we developed a simple and quick collection of voes in the field that could ultimately be part of a stress sensing system utilized by a grower. In the current proposed work, we aim to expand on these results to further refine the levels of drought stress and their associated patterns of voe emission during daily crop cycles and to aid in the identification of areas where aflatoxin formation is likely.