Investigating biospeckle laser analysis as a diagnostic method to assess sprouting damage in wheat seeds

Sprouting Damage is a persistent quality control concern in the cereals industry, as sprouting damaged kernels (SDK) contain enzymes that have a detrimental effect on flour quality. Furthermore, the severity of sprouting damage is difficult to detect using standard visual grading methods. In this work, we present Biospeckle Laser Analysis (BLA) as a diagnostic tool to measure the germination progress and the simulated SDK severity of Canadian Western Red Spring wheat seeds. We first analysed dissected seeds and found that high frequency biospeckle activity in the germ correlated with germination progress. Following this, a novel whole seed grading protocol was developed using qualitative and quantitative data provided by the biospeckle measurement. Using our whole seed grading protocol, seeds subjected to simulated SDK treatments at two levels (10 and 20 h pre-trial water exposure) could be differentiated from healthy seeds and from each respective treatment (p < 0.05). Our results indicate that BLA has the ability to detect latent SDK and may have further applications such as characterizing the dormancy traits of wheat cultivars and studying the seed germination process.