Using electrical impedance tomography for rapid determination of starch and soluble sugar contents in Rosa hybrida

Background Soluble sugar and starch, as carbon sources, directly participate in plant metabolism by providing energy. Conventional determination of plant starch and soluble sugar content usually involves destructive sampling, complicated procedures, and considerable amounts of chemicals and labor. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a non-destructive and rapid method for determining plant starch and soluble sugar contents. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) technology has been used to determine the physiological state and cold resistance of plant tissues. However, so far there have been no reports on the use of EIT for the rapid estimation of soluble sugar and starch contents. Results In this study, EIT was used to obtain reconstructed voltage values and estimate starch and soluble sugar contents in the stems of three Rosa hybrida cultivars during February to May. Stems from two of the cultivars were used for establishing regression models for starch and soluble sugar contents as functions of reconstructed voltage values. The third cultivar was used to test the accuracy of the regression models. The results showed that the reconstructed voltage value significantly correlated with soluble sugar and starch contents. The quadratic regression model was best for determining soluble sugar content and the logarithmic regression model was best for determining starch content. Conclusions Thus, we preliminarily established and verified regression models for estimating soluble sugar and starch contents using reconstructed voltage values of rose stems. These data provide technical support for using EIT to analyze changes in physiological parameters and to rapidly estimate physiological indexes of plants.