DEVELOPMENT OF A WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK FOR FIELD LEVEL STRAWBERRY DISEASE ALERT SYSTEMS

The United States is the world's largest producer of strawberries, harvesting over 680 million metric tons in 2017, valued at approximately $3.2 billion. Fungal diseases are considered a major challenge for strawberry farmers. Even in well-managed fields, losses from fungal diseases can exceed 50% when environmental conditions favor disease development. Anthracnose fruit rot (AFR), caused by Colletotrichum acutatum and Botrytis fruit rot (BFR), caused by Botrytis cinerea, are the most significant diseases monitored (or present) during strawberry production in Central Florida and worldwide. The Strawberry Advisory System (SAS) was developed by researchers at the University of Florida to alert strawberry growers of infection risk of AFR and BFR. SAS also recommends control actions when necessary. In Florida, the SAS uses leaf wetness duration and temperature observed at Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN) stations and private weather stations to estimate strawberry disease risk. A good representation of local conditions is crucial, but unfortunately uncommon in modern fungal disease warning systems (FDWS), such as the SAS. In this study, we developed and deployed an in-field Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) with customized nodes (WetBerry). WetBerry is a distributed mesh network of wireless mini weather stations equipped with leaf wetness, temperature, and relative humidity sensors developed to monitor in-field environmental conditions related to the risk of fungal diseases in strawberry production. The WSN mini weather stations were installed and tested in a strawberry field during the 2017/2018 strawberry season, and the results were validated against a standard agrometeorological weather station. The WSN provided high spatial and temporal density of weather data for agricultural applications, thereby has the potential to improve the capabilities of site-specific fungal disease warning tools and control actions.

Automated summary

The United States is the largest producer of strawberries globally, facing challenges of fungal diseases during production. To assist strawberry growers in understanding the risk of fungal diseases, researchers at the University of Florida developed the Strawberry Advisory System. They also created an in-field Wireless Sensor Network, called WetBerry, designed to monitor environmental conditions related to fungal disease risk in strawberry production.