Quoll e-nose now the responsibility of TIA

The development of a new soil-sensing technology has been handed over to the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA).

The intellectual property for the QUOLL electronic nose (e-nose) has been transferred from the Cooperative Research Centre for High Performance Soils (Soil CRC).

TIA says it will lead the next phase of development and partner with industry to bring the technology to market.

The QUOLL e-nose is designed to rapidly measure biological activity and provide real-time insights from the field.

Using an electronic nose, the device detects volatile compounds released by soil microbes and provides growers with fast information about soil health.

TIA director Mike Rose said the device has been validated through research trials on commercial farms.

“This technology has the potential to give growers a fast and affordable way to understand the biological activity in their soils without needing to send samples for laboratory analysis, which can be slow and expensive,” Prof Rose said.

“Laboratory samples can often take weeks to return results, whereas the QUOLL e-nose can provide insights within minutes. 

“Many growers already use smell as a simple indication of soil health.

“The QUOLL e-nose builds on that instinct by using advanced sensing technology to capture more information about soil biological activity and deliver meaningful information to growers quickly.”

Prof Rose said they were seeking commercial partners interested in helping take the technology from an advanced research prototype into a commercial device. 

“We’re looking to partner with companies to help us take this innovation to the next stage,” he said. 

“Through commercial trials, we’ve seen how the device can deliver useful information, and now our efforts are focused on putting the device into the hands of growers.”

Soil CRC CEO Dr Michael Crawford said the device was now in capable hands.

 “With the help of the TIA team and a strong commercial partner, we anticipate that the device will soon make the leap from a research setting into working farms.”