Application of digital image analysis to the prediction of chlorophyll content in astragalus seeds

Abstract

Chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) has been applied to measure the chlorophyll content of seeds, in order to determine seed maturity, but the high price of equipment limits its wider application. Astragalus seeds were used to explore the applicability of digital image analysis technology to the prediction of seed chlorophyll content and to supply a low cost and alternative method. Our research comprised scanning and extracting the characteristic features of Astragalus seeds, determining the chlorophyll content, and establishing a predictive model of chlorophyll content in Astragalus seeds based on characteristic features. The results showed that the R2 of the MLR prediction model established with multiple features was ≥0.947, and the R2 of the MLP model was ≥0.943. By sorting of two single features, the R and G values, the R2 reached 0.969 and 0.965, respectively. A germination result showed that the lower the chlorophyll content, the higher the quality of the seeds. Therefore, we draw a conclusion that digital image analysis technology can be used to predict effectively the chlorophyll content of Astragalus seeds, and provide a reference for the selection of mature and viable Astragalus seeds.