Development and application of a multispectral imaging system for the study of vitreous in hard red spring wheat

New techniques, which characterize grain attributes, have been a priority of the cereal grain industry before the establishment of grain inspection procedures. Certain subjective characteristics have been the basis for numerous studies of wheat quality. An objective method of determining wheat quality characteristics will enhance the understanding of traits associated with quality in wheat.; This article describes the development of a high resolution system to measure the spectral and spatial characteristics of single grain kernels using reflective and transmissive properties. Furthermore, the hyperspectral imaging system was used to study an objective method to determine vitreous wheat kernels in hard red spring wheat.; The original device consisted of a photomultiplier tube, a tunable filter and a tungsten-halogen diffused illumination source. Having demonstrated the benefits of the original device and the advent of integrating cameras, the photomultiplier tube was replaced with an integrating system that uses a 768 x 576 element CCD sensor. The optics were modified to provide high resolution (0.0115 mm/pixel for wheat) in the final setup of the instrument.; The application of the system for nondestructive quality assessment was tested on kernels of corn and wheat. Purple plumule was compared to blue eye mold, which currently requires physical removal of the pericarp for subjective evaluation. A characteristic peak at 670 nm in the germ was found in purple plumule and not in blue eye mold. Using a reflective light source, vitreous kernels and partial vitreous kernels can be identified by the increased spread of radiated energy in the 500 nm to 700 nm regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.; In order to define an objective method of vitreous determination, an in-depth study was conducted on the transmissive characteristics of hard red spring wheat. Separation of vitreous and non-vitreous wheat kernels was achieved using an accumulation energy image and taking into account the integration time. Separation was also achieved using the summation of the upper portion of the histogram from an image acquired at 574 nm. The effect of other variables on vitreousness in hard wheat was also studied.; This instrument has potential to provide characteristic spectra for a variety of agriculture products in addition to grain. The hyperspectral imaging instrument is especially valuable in studying the spectral characteristics in heterogeneous material.