The purpose of this study was to highlight the use of multispectral imaging in seed quality testing of castor seeds. Visually, 120 seeds were divided into three classes: yellow, grey and black seeds. Thereafter, images at 19 different wavelengths ranging from 375–970 nm were captured of all the seeds. Mean intensity for each single seed was extracted from the images, and a significant difference between the three colour classes was observed, with the best separation in the near-infrared wavelengths. A specified feature (RegionMSI mean) based on normalized canonical discriminant analysis, were employed and viable seeds were distinguished from dead seeds with 92% accuracy. The same model was tested on a validation set of seeds. These seeds were divided into two groups depending on germination ability, 241 were predicted as viable and expected to germinate and 59 were predicted as dead or non-germinated seeds. This validation of the model resulted in 96% correct classification of the seeds. The results illustrate how multispectral imaging technology can be employed for prediction of viable castor seeds, based on seed coat colour.

The fruit certainly modifies the seed environment as external conditions change between wet and dry, but not to a great extent. The major role seems to be: (a) the physical restriction of imbibition and germination; and (b) the release and then re-imposition of dormancy within the seed. The ecological significance of the results requires more research under field conditions.

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Basil seed (Ocimum basilicum L.) has practical amounts of gum with good functional properties. In this work, extraction of gum from Basil seed was studied. Effect of pH, temperature and water/seed ratio on the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters; entropy, enthalpy and free energy of extraction were investigated. The maximum gum yield was 17.95 % at 50 °C for pH=7 and water/seed ratio 30:1. In this study, the experimental data were fitted to a mathematical model of mass transfer and equations constants were obtained. The kinetic of Basil seed gum extraction was found to be a first order mass transfer model. Statistical results indicated that the model used in this study will be able to predict the gum extraction from Basil seed adequately. It also found that ΔH and ΔS were positive and ΔG was negative indicating that the extraction process was spontaneous, irreversible and endothermic. The ΔH, ΔS and ΔG values were 0.26-7.87 kJ/mol, 8.12-33.2 J/mol K and 1.62-4.42 kJ/mol, respectively.

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Abstract:The potential of single-seed near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was investigated to characterise castor seeds based on their seed viability and seed oil content. Distinct differences between viable and non-viable seeds were observed in the principal component analysis (PCA) analysis. Furthermore, the PCA compared heavy and medium seeds with light seeds, which were comparable to the clusters of viable and non-viable seeds, respectively. Prediction accuracies of 98.7% and 99.6% were obtained with the partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model with a classification error rate of 0.8% and 1.1% for the training set and test set, respectively. The NIR spectral regions having chemical information from the oil in castor seeds were found to be vital for determination of seed viability.

Effects of sprayed humic acid, iron, and zinc on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of niger plant (Guizotia abyssinica L.