TuberSense: Industrial application of gas sensing as a tool for monitoring crop spoilage

Crop losses, due to spoilage in storage, are a major global concern, particularly for staple crops like potatoes and sweet potatoes. Monitoring specific gases in storage as non-invasive indicators of crop health has been considered, but no commercial solutions exist. Here, we present the first industrial demonstration of TuberSense, a system that monitors stored crop health by detecting biomarkers linked to spoilage. TuberSense consists of a control box and a sensor module that continuously transmits data to the cloud. It can be installed in existing storage facilities without significant modifications and operates for months with minimal maintenance. Users can access real-time data via a dashboard. The system was tested in a refrigerated shipping container and two industrial storage rooms with varying spoilage levels. Results consistently showed an increase in TuberSense response with crop spoilage. However, the response change was linked to the severity of deterioration rather than the percentage of affected crop. This confirms its effectiveness in detecting spoilage across different industrial environments. Additionally, TuberSense provides real-time data on temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and oxygen, which are important for safety and storage management. These environmental factors play a role in spoilage and can be used to optimise storage conditions. Overall, our results demonstrate that TuberSense has the potential to become a commercially viable, non-invasive early detection tool for monitoring stored crop health. By providing continuous, real-time insights, it can help reduce crop losses and improve storage management practices on an industrial scale.