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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Volatile organic compounds in cereals: A review of research trends and analytical techniques
Food and Humanity, Vol.5, pp.1-17
2025
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Cereals such as wheat, maize, rice, oats and barley feed billions of people and livestock, constituting the backbone of global food systems. However, their production and quality are increasingly threatened by pests, diseases, climate change, and environmental stress. In response, governments and research communities are pushing for eco-friendly solutions, with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) gaining attention for their crucial roles in plant-environment interactions, pest and disease signalling, stress detection and adaptation, and food quality assessment. VOC research offers opportunities for sustainable management in food crop production, promoting resilience and ecological balance. We conducted a bibliometric and systematic review of scientific publications from the Web of Science Core Collection on VOCs in cereals between 1996 and 2025. Results revealed a surge in cereal VOC research since 2015, reflecting increasing interest in sustainable agroecological practices. Advances in science and policies such as the European Commission's Farm to Fork strategy have fuelled research and development in plant VOCs, promoting eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic agrochemicals. Novel technologies like electronic noses (e-noses), biosensors, and proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS) have enhanced real-time VOC monitoring, complementing conventional analytical techniques for VOC detection, analysis, and profiling. Several VOCs have been profiled in cereals, with alkanes, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, fatty acids, and phenols being the dominant compound groups, each contributing specific ecological or food quality-related functions. Despite the recent advancement, field of cereal VOC research is still challenged with limited international collaboration, underutilization of advanced sensing technologies , and research structural and methodological imbalances. This review provides crucial perspectives into potential opportunities for collaborative and integrative research by mapping mature, niche, and emerging research clusters within the VOC–cereals interface.
Details
- Title
- Volatile organic compounds in cereals: A review of research trends and analytical techniques
- Authors
- Joshua Oni (Corresponding Author) - Université Côte d'AzurPatience Enyinwa (Author) - Université Côte d'AzurTomiwa Victor Oluwajuwon (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Forest Research Institute
- Publication details
- Food and Humanity, Vol.5, pp.1-17
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.foohum.2025.100738
- ISSN
- 2949-8244
- Copyright note
- © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Data Availability
- No new data were created or analyzed in this study.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Forest Research Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991148640202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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