At present, faced with the reduction of available pesticides and the very
high societal expectations for human health and the preservation of the
environment, it becomes necessary to adopt newer technologies to improve
accuracy of plant protection tactics and strategies. This epidemiological
surveillance in plant health must move toward real-time delivery of data for
the end-user. This will facilitate mitigation and effective control of
diseases such as botrytis based on data that identifies optimal conditions
in-crop and the detection of the pathogen in the air. Globally, agriculture
has been heavily dependent on plant protection products. In addition to
protecting plants against diseases and pests, pesticides have adverse
effects on human health and the environment. One way to reduce the use of
pesticides while maintaining an acceptable level of production (both in
quantity and quality) is to predict the development of epidemics on crops.
For this, we can monitor the three components that must be present for a
disease to develop: sensitive plants, a pathogen (fungus, bacteria or virus)
and favourable environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity).