Abstract
Environmental conditions inside a greenhouse can strongly influence the development and spread of many plant diseases. Temperature, relative humidity, leaf wetness and atmospheric moisture conditions can create periods that are more favourable for pathogen development.
ClimaSense investigates the use of continuously monitored environmental data to identify disease-risk conditions before visible symptoms become widespread.
The objective is not simply to measure climate, but to convert environmental measurements into practical information that growers can use for crop management.
1. Research Objective
The primary objective is to develop a climate-based disease-risk monitoring approach for protected crop production systems.
Can continuously monitored greenhouse climate data be used to identify environmental conditions that increase the risk of specific crop diseases?
A successful system could provide growers with an additional layer of information for disease-management decisions and help shift monitoring from reactive observation toward earlier risk awareness.
2. Why Monitor Climate for Disease?
Plant pathogens do not develop independently of their environment. The duration and intensity of favourable environmental conditions can influence infection, sporulation and disease development.
Temperature
Temperature influences pathogen growth, infection processes and crop development.
Relative Humidity
Extended periods of high humidity can create favourable conditions for several pathogens.
Leaf Wetness
The presence and duration of moisture on plant surfaces can be important for infection processes.
3. ClimaSense Disease-Risk Framework
The ClimaSense approach connects environmental sensing, data processing and disease-risk models into a continuous monitoring workflow.
Sense
Collect environmental data from the growing environment.
Calculate
Derive relevant environmental indicators from sensor data.
Analyse
Compare environmental conditions with disease-risk criteria.
Alert
Provide growers with timely risk information.
4. Disease Risk Models
ClimaSense research includes the development of climate-based risk calculations for several important crop diseases.
Powdery Mildew
Climate conditions are evaluated to identify periods that may be favourable for powdery mildew development.
Botrytis
Environmental moisture and temperature conditions are considered when evaluating Botrytis risk.
Cercospora
Climate-based conditions can be analysed to identify periods associated with increased leaf-spot disease risk.
Bacterial Leaf Spot
Environmental conditions are used as indicators for periods that may favour bacterial disease development.
Angular Leaf Spot
Continuous climate monitoring can help identify environmental periods associated with increased risk.
Anthracnose
Environmental conditions can be incorporated into risk-monitoring models for anthracnose.
5. From Climate Data to Disease Risk
The system evaluates environmental conditions over time rather than treating each sensor measurement as an isolated observation.
Risk calculations can consider variables such as temperature, relative humidity, duration of favourable conditions and other crop-specific environmental parameters.
This time-based approach is important because a short period of favourable conditions may have a different significance from prolonged exposure.
6. Continuous Monitoring
ClimaSense devices continuously collect environmental measurements and transmit them to the cloud platform.
Environmental Sensing
Sensors measure temperature and relative humidity inside the crop environment.
Data Transmission
Measurements are transmitted to the ClimaSense backend for storage and analysis.
Environmental Analysis
Derived climate indicators are calculated and evaluated using disease-risk logic.
Risk Detection
The system identifies periods where environmental conditions reach defined disease-risk levels.
Grower Notification
Relevant alerts can be delivered to growers through the ClimaSense notification system.
7. From Risk Detection to SMS Alerts
One of the practical objectives of the system is to transform complex climate analysis into information that a grower can understand quickly.
Environmental conditions are currently favourable for increased disease risk. Please inspect the crop and greenhouse environment.
The exact alert message can be adapted according to crop, growth stage, disease and risk level.
8. Why Early Risk Information Matters
Traditional disease management often depends heavily on visual scouting and identification of symptoms.
Climate-based monitoring does not replace field scouting. Instead, it can provide an additional information layer that helps growers identify when closer inspection may be particularly useful.
The purpose of climate-based disease monitoring is to identify potentially favourable environmental periods before disease becomes visually obvious, allowing growers to investigate the crop earlier.
9. Important Considerations
Disease-risk monitoring should be interpreted as a decision-support tool rather than a definitive diagnosis of disease presence.
Crop Differences
Disease development can vary between crops, varieties and production systems.
Environmental Variation
Greenhouse ventilation, canopy structure, irrigation and local microclimate can influence disease development.
Biological Factors
Pathogen presence, inoculum level and crop susceptibility also influence disease outcomes.
Field Validation
Risk models require validation using real crop observations and disease-development data.
10. Future Research
- Validate disease-risk models under different greenhouse conditions.
- Compare predicted risk with field disease observations.
- Improve crop-specific disease-risk thresholds.
- Incorporate additional environmental variables.
- Investigate growth-stage-specific disease risk.
- Develop predictive disease-risk analytics.
- Improve automated grower notification systems.
11. Conclusion
Continuous environmental monitoring provides an opportunity to move beyond simply recording greenhouse climate conditions.
By connecting climate measurements with disease-risk models, ClimaSense aims to convert environmental data into actionable information for crop management.
Further experimental validation and field observations are essential for improving the accuracy and practical value of these disease-risk models.