Co-Authors:
Salman, A., Department of Physics, SCE-Sami Shamoon College of Engineering, Beer-Sheva 84100, Israel
Lapidot, I., Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SCE-Sami Shamoon College of Engineering, Ashdod 77245, Israel
Pomerantz, A., Department of Virology and Developmental Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Tsror, L., Department of Plant Pathology, Institute of Plant Protection, Gilat Experiment Station, M.P. Negev 85250, Israel
Hammody, Z., Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Moreh, R., Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Huleihel, M., Department of Virology and Developmental Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Mordechai, S., Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Abstract:
Fungi are considered as serious pathogens for many plants, potentially causing severe economic damage. Early detection and identification of these pathogens is crucial for their timely control. The methods available for identification of fungi are time consuming and not always very specific. In this study, the potential of FTIR-ATR spectroscopy was examined together with advanced mathematical principle component analysis (PCA) and statistical linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to differentiate among 10 isolates of Fusarium oxysporum. The results are encouraging and indicate that FTIR-ATR can successfully detect different isolates of Fusarium oxysporum. Based on PCA and LDA calculations in the region 850-1775 cm-1 with 16 PC's, the different strains from the same fungal genus could be classified with 75.3 and 69.5 success rates using the "leave one out" method and "20-80 algorithm" respectively. © 2012 A. Salman et al.