Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
4759084 Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 2017 10 Pages PDF
Abstract
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.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Computer Science Computer Science Applications
Authors
, ,