Optical Methods for the Detection of Plant Pathogens and Diseases (Review)

Plant diseases of an infectious nature are the reason for major economic losses in agriculture throughout the world. The early, rapid and non-invasive detection of diseases and pathogens is critical for effective control. Optical diagnostic methods have a high speed of analysis and non-invasiveness. The review provides a general description of such methods and also discusses in more detail methods based on the scattering and absorption of light in the UV, Vis, IR and terahertz ranges, Raman scattering and LiDAR technologies. The application of optical methods to all parts of plants, to a large number of groups of pathogens, under various data collection conditions is considered. The review reveals the diversity and achievements of modern optical methods in detecting infectious plant diseases, their development trends and their future potential.