Development of an optoelectronic tool for the detection of Cotonet de les Valls in citrus crops

[EN] Delottococcus aberiae, or "Cotonet de les Valls," is an invasive pest responsible for substantial yield losses in citrus crops across the Mediterranean region of Spain. This study reports developing and validating a novel portable optoelectronic nose that integrates optical and electrochemical sensors for early pest detection in the field. The system demonstrated selectivity towards D. aberiae under both controlled and field conditions. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed clear separation between infested and pest-free samples, and the ability to distinguish D. aberiae from other pests such as Bemisia tabaci. Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) models achieved perfect classification metrics (accuracy, precision, recall = 1.000) under in vitro conditions and high accuracy in field trials, even at early infestation levels. Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression models yielded R2 values above 0.95 for predicting incidence and over 0.91 for severity when using a reduced 8-sensor array, significantly simplifying the system without compromising performance. These results highlight the robustness, accuracy, and field applicability of the optoelectronic system as an effective decision-support tool in integrated pest management programs.