UC Davis

Dicamba herbicide is increasingly used in the world, in particular‚ with the widespread cultivation of genetically modified dicamba-resistant crops. However, the drift problem in the field has caused phytotoxicity against naive, sensitive crops, raising legal concerns. Thus, it is particularly timely to develop a method that can be used for on-the-spot rapid detection of dicamba in the field. In this paper, a lateral flow immunochromatographic strip (LFIC) was developed. The quantitative detection can be conducted by an app on a smartphone, named “Color Snap.” The tool reported here provides results in 10 min and can detect dicamba in water with a LOD (detection limit) value of 0.1 mg/L. The developed LFIC shows excellent stability and sensitivity appropriate for field analysis. Our sensor is portable and excellent tool for on-site detection with smartphone imaging for better accuracy and precision of the results.Graphical abstract