関連: 農業・食品
植物表面の農薬の分布分析と可視化
Agrochemicals such as fungicides play an essential part in ensuring security of food supply. Significant research efforts are made to ensure their effectiveness while minimising any adverse environmental impact. Contact fungicides work by binding to leaf surfaces. To study their effectiveness, it is critical to know where on the leaf the fungicides are located after their application. Scanning electron microscopy combining cryo-sample preparation with EDS X-ray mapping preserves the structure of the leaf and allows the direct visualisation of the fungicide distribution on the leaf surface. Advanced seed development can be enhanced through x-ray imaging techniques to bring about higher yielding agricultural products to feed our growing global population.
Chlorine and Fluorine elemental maps clearly show the fungicide distribution on the leaf.