Phenotypic evaluation of flax seeds by image analysis

• Flax seeds were analyzed by image analysis.
• The varieties based on 34 morpho-colorimetric quantitative variables were discrimined.
• The effect of crop locality on the quality of seeds was confirmed.

Linum usitatissimum L., as other fibre plants, has high technical and nutritive value connected to the seed fatty acid composition. The assessment of some seed aspects such as colour, size and shape is important in grading system as well as to characterize accessions of core collections. The data of 34 morphometric and colorimetric features of flax seeds belonging to four Czech varieties tested in 5 different Czech localities, were used to implement an identification and classification grading system, on the basis of two sample datasets: a training set of data to teach the classifier and a different test set of data to validate it. The achieved results suggested the possibility to discriminate both varieties and localities, and the stability of any studied flax seed lot.