BRIGHTNESS PRESERVING HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION (BPHE) TECHNIQUE FOR CLASSIFICATION OF DATES

Brightness preserving histogram equalization (BPHE) technique was used to enhance the features to discriminate three dates varieties (Khalas, Fard and Madina). Mean, entropy and kurtosis features were computed from the enhanced images and used in an Artificial Neural Network classifier. The classification efficiency of 4 sets of hidden neurons (5, 10, 20, and 30) was tested and the network with 5 neurons yielded the highest classification accuracy of 95.2%

Computer Vision Techniques for Quality Assessment of Dates

Computer vision (CV) is a technique in which the image of an object is obtained through any imaging system and the image is analyzed to characterize the quality of the object objectively. The advancement in electronics has made this technique utilized in various fields. In North America, food industry is one of the top ten industries utilizing CV technique for quality monitoring. However, CV technique is not much utilized in the food industries in Asia. Dates is an important fruit crop in Oman and many other Arab countries. The quality assessment of dates during handling and processing are mainly carried out through manual inspection method. But this method has many challenges such as the efficiency of a worker, subjectivity, and so on. There are lots of opportunities to utilize CV technique for measuring and monitoring various quality aspects of dates. Through an Open Research Grant program funded by The Research Council (TRC), Oman, potential of CV technique for various internal and external qualities of dates was determined. This paper describes the efficiency of CV systems for variety identification, surface crack detection, texture and hardness determination

The use of high throughput DNA sequence analysis to assess the endophytic microbiome of date palm roots grown under different levels of salt stress

Date palms are able to grow under diverse abiotic stress conditions including in saline soils, where microbial communities may be help in the plant’s salinity tolerance. These communities able to produce specific growth promoting substances can enhance date palm growth in a saline environment. However, these communities are poorly defined. In the work reported here, the date palm endophytic bacterial and fungal communities were identified using the pyrosequencing method, and the microbial differential abundance in the root upon exposure to salinity stress was estimated. Approximately 150,061 reads were produced from the analysis of six ribosomal DNA libraries, which were prepared from endophytic microorganisms colonizing date palm root tissues. DNA sequence analysis of these libraries predicted the presence of a variety of bacterial and fungal endophytic species, some known and others unknown. The microbial community compositions of 30% and 8% of the bacterial and fungal species, respectively, were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) altered in response to salinity stress. Differential enrichment analysis showed that microbe diversity indicated by the Chao, Shannon and Simpson indices were slightly reduced, however, the overall microbial community structures were not significantly affected as a consequence of salinity. This may reflect a buffering effect by the host plant on the internal environments that these communities are colonizing. Some of the endophytes identified in this study were strains that were previously isolated from saline and marine environments. This suggests possible interactions with the plant that are favorable to salinity tolerance in date palm. [Int Microbiol 19(3):143-155 (2016)]Keywords: Phoenix dactylifera · endophytes · salt stres

Phosphorus and potassium application improves fodder yield and quality of sorghum in Aridisol under diverse climatic conditions

Fodder yield and quality must be improved for sustainable livestock production. A lack of or low application of phosphorus (P) and potassium (P) are among the leading constraints of lower fodder yield and quality of sorghum [most cultivated fodder crop during kharif season (crop cultivation in summer and harvesting during winter] in Aridisol of Pakistan. Therefore, this two-year field study evaluated the role of different P and K levels on fodder yield and quality of sorghum cultivar ‘Ijar-2002’ planted in Multan and Okara districts, Punjab, Pakistan. Seven P-K (kg ha−1) levels, i.e., T1 (40–0), T2 (80–0), T3 (0–40), T4 (0–60), T5 (40–40), T6 (80–40), T7 (60–80) and an untreated T0 (control) were included in the study. Results indicated that individual effects of years, locations and P-K levels had a significant effect on fodder yield and quality. All treatments received an equal amount of nitrogen (i.e., 120 kg ha−1). Application of P-K in Aridisols at both locations significantly improved fodder yield, dry matter yield, and ether contents during both years. The T6 (80–40 kg ha−1) significantly improved yield and quality traits of sorghum fodder except for crude fiber (CF) and acid and neutral detergent fiber (ADF and NDF) at both locations during both years of study. Moreover, fodder harvested from Multan observed significantly higher CF, ADF, NDF, cellulose and hemicellulose contents than Okara. However, sorghum grown in Okara harvested more fodder yield due to more plant height and ether contents. In conclusion, planting sorghum in Aridisols, fertilized with 80–40 kg ha−1 P-K seemed a viable option to harvest more fodder yield of better quality

Traditional cultivation of pomegranate in Oman

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Fruit growth characteristics of four pomegranate cultivars from northern Oman.

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Contrast Enhancement Using Brightness Preserving Histogram Equalization Technique for Classification of Date Varieties

Computer vision technique is becoming popular for quality assessment of many products in food industries. Image enhancement is the first step in analyzing the images in order to obtain detailed information for the determination of quality. In this study, Brightness preserving histogram equalization technique was used to enhance the features of gray scale images to classify three date varieties (Khalas, Fard and Madina). Mean, entropy, kurtosis and skewness features were extracted from the original and enhanced images. Mean and entropy from original images and kurtosis from the enhanced images were selected based on Lukka's feature selection approach. An overall classification efficiency of 93.72% was achieved with just three features. Brightness preserving histogram equalization technique has great potential to improve the classification in various quality attributes of food and agricultural products with minimum features

Phytochemical content, antioxidant capacity and physicochemical properties of pomegranate grown in different microclimates in South Africa

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Physiological responses and postharvest quality of banana as affected by storage conditions

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Physiological responses and postharvest quality of banana as affected by storage conditions

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