Development of a portable electronic nose for detection of pests and plant damage

•Detection of volatiles was investigated as a novel pest detection method.•A device was developed to sample volatiles from pests or pest-damaged products.•The device successfully sampled volatiles of pest and plant volatiles.•The device successfully responded to volatiles of pests and plants.•Results indicated the potential of developing an electronic nose to detect pests.

Agricultural pests are responsible for millions of dollars of crop losses and control costs every year. To reduce these losses and minimize control costs, new methods to detect pests and/or pest damage must be investigated in order to optimize control measures. One such method evaluated in this study was to detect the chemicals released by pests or pest-damaged products. A portable device was developed to draw volatiles from pests or pest-damaged products over carbon black–polymer composite sensors and measure the change in resistance for each sensor. The device successfully sampled pest and plant volatiles and these volatiles were detected using carbon black–polymer composite sensors. These results indicated an electronic nose is a feasible approach to detect pests and/or pest damage.