Detection of fungi using a long-period fibre grating

Abstract

We present the first-time application of long-period fibre gratings written with a copper-vapour laser for detection of fungi in plants. The long-period gratings are used for identification of Trichoderma fungi species. A significance of our work lies in the facts that these bioagents protect plant roots against pathogens that can cause serious fungal diseases, resulting in great crop yield losses and, moreover, these can cause a lethal effect on human beings. We study such Trichoderma species as T. Harzianum, T. Viride and T. Longibacterium. They reveal characteristic attenuation peaks respectively at the resonance wavelengths 1524, 1520 and 1522 nm. The corresponding transmission dips change from 63.75 dB for the case of water to 54.85, 57.34 and 59.76 dB for the cases of water solutions of T. Harzianum, T. Viride and T. Longibacterium, respectively.