Lemna minor bioassay evaluation using computer image analysis

Abstract

This article deals with using computer vision in the evaluation of the Lemna minor bioassay. According to the conventional method, the growth of Lemna minor mass is determined from the number of leaves grown. In this work, instead of counting individual leaves, we propose measuring the area occupied by the leaves using computer vision and compare the new approach with the conventional one. The bioassay is performed according to the ISO 20079 standard as a 168 h growth inhibition test; the aim of the experiment was to quantify the negative effects on the vegetative growth using two parameters-the number of leaves and the area occupied by the leaves. The method based on image processing was faster and also more precise since it enabled us to detect the negative effect of the tested substance on leave size, not only on their number. It can be concluded that the toxic effect has shown to be more significant when considering the leaves area rather than the number of leaves. Moreover, mistakes caused by human factor during leaves counting are eliminated using the computer vision based method.