Nondestructive analysis of single plant canola (Brassica napus) seeds using near infra-red spectroscopy.

Abstract

Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) is widely used for quantitative analysis of oilseeds in a non-destructive manner. Canola (Brassica napus) is a popular oilseed crop that is used for food and biofuel markets. Due to limited seed availability in plant breeding programs, single plant analysis is often preferred. An NIRS commercial calibration model was evaluated to predict single plant canola seed, but the results showed the need for new NIRS calibration models to predict moisture content, oil content, and fatty acid content for single plant canola seed (3 g) with minimal sample preparation. A separate NIRS calibration model was developed for glucosinolates content utilizing 20 g seed. The resulting NIRS calibration models for moisture and oil content were acceptable. However, suitable NIRS calibration models were not obtained for fatty acids and glucosinolates content due to limited constituent variability and the narrow wavelength range used to collect spectra. vi

A Single Seed Protein Extraction Protocol for Characterizing Brassica Seed Storage Proteins

“…This is the particular case for pilot-scale field experiments, green house and growth chamber experiments, analysis of small and endangered seed species and proteome profiling of seeds where the sample size is very low and/or the analysis of high-abundance storage proteins in individual seeds is crucial [35][36][37]. In plant breeding approaches, single seed analysis is always desired, with minimal sample preparation because of limited seed availability [38,39]. Consequently, it becomes necessary to extract material from a single seed rather than a mixture of multiple seeds.…”