Impedance Measures for Detecting Electrical Responses during Acute Injury and Exposure of Compounds to Roots of Plants

Abstract

Electrical activity is widely used for assessing a plant’s response to an injury or environmental stimulus. Commonly, a differential electrode recording between silver wire leads with the reference wire connected to the soil, or a part of the plant, is used. One method uses KCl-filled glass electrodes placed into the plant, similar to recording membrane/cell potentials in animal tissues. This method is more susceptible to artifacts of equipment noise and photoelectric effects than an impedance measure. An impedance measure using stainless steel wires is not as susceptible to electrically induced noises. Impedance measurements are able to detect injury in plants as well as exposure of the roots to environmental compounds (glutamate). The impedance measures were performed in 5 different plants (tomato, eggplant, pepper, liverwort, and Coleus scutellarioides), and responses to mechanical movement of the plant, as well as injury, were recorded. Monitoring electrical activity in a plant that arises in a distant plant was also demonstrated using the impedance method. The purpose of this report is to illustrate the ease in using impedance measures for monitoring electrical signals from individual plants or aggregates of plants for potentially scaling for high throughput and monitoring controlled culturing and outdoor field environments.