Soilsense makes Commercial Sense!

Following 8 years of research and development Eco-Diagnostics is pleased to launch 'Soilsense' a range of low cost, easy to use testing kits for the detection of selected plant pathogens in vegetation, soils and composts.

The presence of soil-borne pathogens in soils and composts can lead to crop disease and even total crop failure. Until now there has been no quick and easy way of testing for their presence other than full-scale planting (bioassay).

Traditional, post germination methods of identification in the field have been superseded by the deployment of analytical DNA techniques such as PCR (polymerase chain reactions). This technology however, is very specialised, time consuming and consequently very expensive to run. Furthermore, it is known that such techniques can be unreliable in quantifying the proliferation of plant pathogens, particularly those associated with composts and soils.

The 'Soilsense' innovation

In order to address this problem, Eco Diagnostics Ltd (see our people) with initial support from a DTI smart grant and more recently the Norlands Foundation, have developed a range of rapid, specific and user-friendly antibody-based diagnostic tests which use latest LFD technology. Based on the isolation and subsequent use of highly specific monoclonal antibodies, tests have been developed for the detection of Rhizoctonia species (causal agents of a wide range of diseases of economically important plant species), and Armillaria mellea (honey fungus disease of trees and shrubs) and more recently, for the detection of Trichoderma.
(see products in trials)

Further work is currently underway to apply this method to detect a broader range of soil-borne plant pathogens, in particular the detection of Aspergillus species in composts and bioaerosols.

EcoDiagnostics have recently concluded their extensive product trials and the kits are now available to purchase. For more details of the products, including prices go to the 'products' page.