Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy using an attenuated total reflection probe to distinguish between Japanese larch, pine and citrus plants in healthy and diseased states.

FTIR spectroscopy coupled with an Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) sampling probe has been demonstrated as a technique for detecting disease in plants. Spectral differences were detected in Japanese Larch (Larix kaempferi) infected with Phytophthora ramorum at 3403cm(-1) and 1730cm(-1), from pine (Pinus spp.) infected with Bursaphelenchus xylophilus at 1070cm(-1), 1425cm(-)1, 1621cm(-1) and 3403cm(-1) and from citrus (Citrus spp.) infected with 'Candidatus liberibacter' at 960cm(-1), 1087cm(-1), 1109cm(-1), 1154cm(-1), 1225cm(-1), 1385cm(-1), 1462cm(-1), 1707cm(-1), 2882cm(-1), 2982cm(-1) and 3650cm(-1). A spectral marker in healthy citrus has been identified as Pentanone but is absent from the diseased sample spectra. This agrees with recent work by Aksenov, 2014. Additionally, the spectral signature of Cutin was identified in the spectra of Pinus spp. and Citrus spp. and is consistent with work by Dubis, 1999 and Heredia-Guerrero, 2014.