Biotechnology Bulletin ›› 2026, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (4): 38-52.doi: 10.13560/j.cnki.biotech.bull.1985.2025-0911

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Advances in Flexible Wearable Biosensors for Early Warning of Crop Stress and Disease-pest Infestation: A Comprehensive Review

HE Jun-jie(), HE Yang, YU Wei, GUAN Hua-nan()   

  1. School of Grain Science and Technology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003
  • Received:2025-08-23 Online:2026-04-26 Published:2026-04-30
  • Contact: GUAN Hua-nan E-mail:222241821323@stu.just.edu.cn;guanhn@just.edu.cn

Abstract:

Flexible wearable biosensors have high sensitivity, stability, flexibility, and stretchability, enabling conformal adhesion to crop epidermis and real-time conversion of physiological signals into electrical signals for dynamic monitoring of plant physiological changes. In recent years, such sensors have rapidly advanced in the field of crop health monitoring and stress early-warning, providing a novel paradigm for real-time diagnosis of growth status, diseases, pests, and abiotic stresses. However, their large-scale application has been limited by key factors including long-term stable adhesion, environmental tolerance, multi-signal integration capability, and cost-effectiveness. This review summarized recent advances in plant wearable flexible sensors for crop health monitoring and stress early-warning, with a focus on their core characteristics, primary classifications, and sensing performance. Furthermore, it analyzed the critical bottlenecks in the translation of flexible wearable sensors into agricultural practices from multiple dimensions: early identification of diseases and pests, water status, metabolic changes, pesticide residues, and morphological strain. It also prospected the future pathways of their integration with artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and advanced materials, which may provide important references for theoretical breakthroughs and technological implementation in crop health management within the context of smart agriculture.

Key words: flexible wearable biosensors, crop growth stress, pest and disease, pre-alarming monitoring, smart agriculture