Yang et al. Plant Methods (2021) 17:56 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-021-00757-y Plant Methods METHODOLOGY Open Access Methodology: non-invasive monitoring system based on standing wave ratio for detecting water content variations in plants Yunjeong Yang1†, Ji Eun Kim1†, Hak Jin Song1†, Eun Bin Lee1, Yong‑Keun Choi1, Jeong Wook Jo1, Hyeon Jin Jeon1, Ho Hyun Kim2, Kwang Jin Kim3 and Hyung Joo Kim1* Abstract Background: Water content variation during plant growth is one of the most important monitoring parameters in plant studies. Conventional parameters (such as dry weight) are unreliable; thus, the development of rapid, accurate methods that will allow the monitoring of water content variation in live plants is necessary. In this study, we aimed to develop a non‑invasive, radiofrequency‑based monitoring system to rapidly and accurately detect water content variation in live plants. The changes in standing wave ratio (SWR) caused by the presence of stem water and magnetic particles in the stem water fow were used as the basis of plant monitoring systems. Results: The SWR of a coil probe was used to develop a non‑invasive monitoring system to detect water con‑ tent variation in live plants. When water was added to the live experimental plants with or without illumination under drought conditions, noticeable SWR changes at various frequencies were observed. When a fxed frequency (1.611 GHz) was applied to a single experimental plant (Radermachera sinica), a more comprehensive monitoring, such as water content variation within the plant and the efect of illumination on water content, was achieved. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that the SWR of a coil probe could be used as a real‑time, non‑invasive, non‑ destructive parameter for detecting water content variation and practical vital activity in live plants. Our non‑invasive monitoring method based on SWR may also be applied to various plant studies. Keywords: Plant water content, Plant activity monitoring, Standing wave ratio (SWR), Radermachera sinica, Coil probe Background Te oven-drying technique is generally used for meas- Measuring the internal water content variation of a live uring soil water content for research purposes due to its plant is important to understand its physiology and accuracy and simplicity. However, soil measurements metabolism as well as to retrieve useful information performed at specifc times are not directly related to the regarding water shortage or over-irrigation [1]. Conven- actual water fow in the plant [2]. Terefore, measuring tional plant irrigation and its scheduling are based on the the actual water content of the plant xylem could provide analysis of soil water content and meteorological data. more accurate information regarding the efect of water on plant growth and physiology. Numerous experimental methods are available to *Correspondence: [email protected] determine the actual water content of live plant com- †Yunjeong Yang, JiEun Kim, and HakJin Song are contributed equally to this study ponents (i.e., leaves, stems, xylem, and roots), including 1 Department of Biological Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, dendrography [3], pressure chamber methods [4], infra- Republic of Korea red image analysis [5], impedance spectrometry [6], and Full list of author information is available at the end of the article radar systems [7]. Nevertheless, these methods involve © The Author(s) 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ licen ses/ by/4. 0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ publi cdoma in/ zero/1. 0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Yang et al. Plant Methods (2021) 17:56 Page 2 of 9 complex experimental procedures that require costly these approaches focused only on the water fow in a instrumentation. Several methods have been developed plant. Terefore, it is necessary to develop a rapid and to measure plant stem water content directly, includ- simple method that will allow the efective estimation of ing heat pulse systems [2, 8], microneedle sensors [1], water content variation in plants while observing their and the standing wave ratio (SWR) system [9]. However, vital activity. these approaches require the insertion of a probe sensor In this study, we applied an SWR method for monitor- system into the plant xylem, which might cause serious ing water content variations and vital activity in plants. disturbance to the water fow conditions and, conse- Our approach, based on SWR measurements, may repre- quently, provide unreliable results [10]. sent a simple, rapid, and unique monitoring method for A previous study [11] showed that traces of paramag- detecting water content variation and vital activities in netic metal components in plants (i.e., humus and water) plants based on SWR. could induce electrical inductance changes in a coil probe surrounding a plant and also demonstrated that there Results and discussion are clear electrical inductance diferences between a live Changes in SWR for control and experimental vessels and a dead plant with or without the addition of water. under diferent conditions Tese results suggested that diferences in the induct- An experiment was carried out to obtain preliminary ance changes are closely related to diferences between SWR measurements for a vessel containing only soil the metabolic and physiological activities of live and dead (control vessel) using a coil probe located above the ves- plants. Tus, the non-invasive measurement of stem sel. Using the same system, a vessel containing the plant water fow might be possible using an electromagnetic Fatoua villosa (experimental vessel) was also examined. method. SWR variations at 1.0–2.0 GHz for the control and the SWR is estimated by measuring the impedance experimental vessels under various conditions are shown matching of loads to the characteristic impedance of an in Fig. 1. For the control vessel, SWR showed multiple antenna, transmission line, or waveguide, and measure- peaks with a minimum at 2.2 and a maximum at 16.3. No ments are obtained using a network analyzer [12]. SWR signifcant variation in the SWR was observed with the is widely used to estimate radio antenna performance addition of water to the control vessel. However, when (i.e., resonance point and transmission efciency) at a water was added to the experimental vessel, diferences in specifc radio frequency (RF). Due to water in live plant the SWR, compared with that of the control vessel, were components and their electrical impedance, several observed throughout the frequency range. As shown studies have shown the transmission of specifc RF [13]. in Fig. 1, the experimental vessel induced two peak fre- Besides, the variation in the water content of a plant quencies, and its SWR values were lower than those of has been estimated from SWR values using invasive [9, the control vessel throughout the frequency range. For 14, 15] or non-invasive ring-type sensors [16]. However, instance, the control vessel showed a peak at 1.629 GHz Fig. 1 Standing wave ratio (SWR) changes for the experimental plant Fatoua villosa. SWR measurement of the coil probe was performed using a network analyzer under various experimental conditions, and the frequency was measured at 1.0–2.0 GHz Yang et al. Plant Methods (2021) 17:56 Page 3 of 9 with an SWR of 16.1, whereas the experimental vessel (Fig. 2C). Te dead plants showed signifcantly diferent showed a left-shifted peak at 1.620 GHz with an SWR of SWR compared with those of the live plants but almost 14.8 (Fig. 1A). At frequency ranges of 1.197–1.202 GHz identical with those of the control vessel (Fig. 2). Tere- (Fig. 1B), 1.323–1.341 GHz (Fig. 1C), 1.710–1.737 GHz fore, the plant confguration (i.e., leaf number, leaf shape, (Fig. 1D), and 1.917–1.935 GHz (Fig. 1E), reduced and and stem length) and physiological activities (i.e., photo- shifted SWR were observed for the experimental vessel, synthesis, stem water fow, water content, and concentra- probably due to the presence of stem water and mag- tion of magnetic materials) might afect SWR throughout netic particles in the stem water fow that changed the RF the frequency range. To evaluate the accuracy and repro- characteristics of the coil probe [11]. ducibility of our results, further experiments were carried To evaluate the efect of water addition on F. villosa, out with various live plants under the same experimental SWR measurements were obtained after 3 d of no water- conditions. ing and 3 h post-watering. As shown in Fig. 1, watering Various experimental plants were examined using the generated major and minor SWR changes compared same monitoring system after 7 d, 5 d, and 3 d of no with no watering throughout the frequency range. For watering for Ficus benghalensis, Dypsis lutescens, and instance, post-watering SWR changed by 2.4 ± 0.61% Salvia rosmarinus, respectively, as well as at 3 h post- at 1.026 GHz, 2.1 ± 0.83% at 1.197 GHz, 3.1 ± 0.91% watering, with or without illumination.