Detection of the fungal infection in post-harvest onions by an electronic nose

Among emerging novel trend streams in agriculture, techniques for the analysis of the volatile organic compounds emitted from plants are gaining increasing interest. In this work, the electronic nose abilities to detect onions infected with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cepae as well as to discriminate between samples with varying proportion of infected onion bulbs were evaluated. It was demonstrated that changes in the samples related to the development of the disease can be observed on the PCA plot. It was also proved that storage of the onions at a low temperature inhibits the development of the infection. Presented findings of the preliminary studies revealed that electronic nose is a promising analytical tool for the detection of the infection of the onion bulbs.