The Use of Image-Spectroscopy Technology as a Diagnostic Method for Seed Health Testing and Variety Identification

<div><p>Application of rapid and time-efficient health diagnostic and identification technology in the seed industry chain could accelerate required analysis, characteristic description and also ultimately availability of new desired varieties. The aim of the study was to evaluate the potential of multispectral imaging and single kernel near-infrared spectroscopy (SKNIR) for determination of seed health and variety separation of winter wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.) and winter triticale (<i>Triticosecale</i> Wittm. & Camus). The analysis, carried out in autumn 2013 at AU-Flakkebjerg, Denmark, included nine winter triticale varieties and 27 wheat varieties provided by the Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences Maribor, Slovenia. <i>Fusarium</i> sp. and black point disease-infected parts of the seed surface could successfully be distinguished from uninfected parts with use of a multispectral imaging device (405–970 nm wavelengths). SKNIR was applied in this research to differentiate all 36 involved varieties based on spectral differences due to variation in the chemical composition. The study produced an interesting result of successful distinguishing between the infected and uninfected parts of the seed surface. Furthermore, the study was able to distinguish between varieties. Together these components could be used in further studies for the development of a sorting model by combining data from multispectral imaging and SKNIR for identifying disease(s) and varieties.</p></div

Blob tool database report of varieties separation regarding species, color and size of seeds.

<p>Varieties were separated by Region MSIMean1_all (nCDA created feature) and Length (mm). Agostino (green) is a triticale variety with long green seeds; Be_Giran is representing triticale varieties with long yellowish seeds and Lucija a group of winter wheat varieties with small yellowish seeds.</p

Example of successful separation of winter wheat.

<p>Varieties were separated by intensity and nCDA-created features from multispectral imaging (MSIMean): Pannonikus (red square), Panonic NS (green), Jana (blue), Lucija (orange), Euclide (violet), Soissons (pink), Energo (red triangle).</p

Confusion matrix of varieties and groups of varieties.

<p>Confusion matrix of varieties and groups of varieties.</p

Image comparison of healthy seeds with infected seeds.

<p>Seeds on image were infected by black point disease (<i>Alternaria</i> sp.) and <i>Fusarium</i> sp. (A) RGB-captured images. (B) nCDA-transformed images. (C) RGB images after seed incubation.</p

Reflection intensity between different infection/unifications.

<p>Separation spectrum of infected and uninfected ROI parts of the seeds regarding mean reflection intensity at different wavelengths.</p