Semi-automated assessment of the embryonic area of cucumber seeds and its relationship to germination and seedling length

Abstract

-Automated evaluations are highly useful for the seed industry to provide reliable information about different parameters of seed quality and fast results and to reduce errors based on human visual analysis. The objective of this research was to identify variations in the degree of embryo development in commercial cucumber seed lots and their relationship with physiological potential. Seeds of Supremo and Safira cultivars (four lots each), with germination above 90%, were X-rayed, evaluated according to embryonic area (using the Tomato Analyzer software) and germinated (4 days at 25 °C); germination percentage and seedling length data were obtained. The average seed embryo area was 79.7 and 80.9% (Supremo and Safira, respectively), ranging from 4.4 and 1.0 percentage points among the lots of each cultivar. The semiautomated analysis using the Tomato Analyzer software identifies small variations in the embryonic development of cucumber seed lots; seeds with an embryonic area less than 78.1% were more likely to produce less developed seedlings.Index terms: Cucumis sativus, quality control, imaging analysis, x-rays.Avaliação semiautomática da área embrionária de sementes de pepino e sua relação com a germinação e crescimento de plântulas RESUMO -A automação das avaliações de diferentes atributos da qualidade de sementes é altamente desejável pela indústria de sementes, pois além da rápida obtenção de resultados, reduz erros humanos de interpretação decorrentes da análise baseada em estimativas visuais. Com o objetivo de identificar variações do grau de desenvolvimento embrionário em sementes de pepino de lotes comerciais, bem como sua possível relação com o potencial fisiológico, sementes das cultivares Supremo e Safira (quatro lotes cada), com germinação mínima de 90%, foram radiografadas, submetidas à avaliação da área embrionária (software Tomato Analyzer) e avaliadas quanto à germinação (4 dias a 25 °C) e comprimento de plântulas. A área embrionária média das sementes foi de 79,7 e 80,9% (cultivares Supremo e Safira, respectivamente), com variações de 4,4 e 1,0 pontos percentuais entre os lotes de cada cultivar, respectivamente. A análise semiautomatizada, realizada com o auxílio do software Tomato Analyzer, possibilita a identificação de variações estreitas no grau de desenvolvimento embrionário de lotes de sementes de pepino, uma vez que as sementes cuja área embrionária ocupa espaço inferior a 78,1% da cavidade interna são mais propensas a originarem plântulas menos desenvolvidas.Termos para indexação: Cucumis sativus, controle de qualidade, análise de imagens, raios-x.

Use of image analysis techniques to determine the embryo size of Senna multijuga (Rich.) seeds and its relation to germination and vigor

“…By the analysis of data, it is possible to observe that of all parameters evaluated by the software, the only one presenting significant differences among the lots the one evaluating seed area. Therefore, results are opposed to what was obtained by Gomes-Junior et al (2013), who evaluated the effectiveness of the Tomato Analyzer ® software in identifying variations in the development degree of the embryo and their possible relation with the physiological potential in cucumber seeds. The authors concluded that the semi-automated analysis, performed with the help of the Tomato Analyzer ® software, allowed identifying close variations in the development degree of the embryos from different lots of cucumber seeds, observing that seeds whose embryonic area occupied less than 78.1% of the internal cavity were more likely to originate less developed seedlings.…”

Cracking the case: Seed traits and phylogeny predict time to germination in prairie restoration species

“…(). Lastly we measured E:S ratio using X‐ray analysis (Faxitron, Model MX‐W, Tucson, AZ, USA) to quickly and noninvasively measure the embryo relative to the whole seed, as has been used to measure seed embryos in crop species like cucumber (Gomes‐Junior, Chiquito, & Marcos‐Filho, ) and sunflower (da Rocha, Silva, & Cicero, ). We analyzed X‐ray images and calculated E:S ratio of each seed using imageJ software (Schneider, Rasband, & Eliceiri, ).…”

<b>Radiographic images and relationship of the internal morphology and physiological potential of broccoli seeds

“…Subtitles: Area (mm 2 ); Density (gray scale); SLseedling length (mm). Radiographic images of other species such as cucumber (Gomes Junior et al, 2013) and squash (Silva, Freitas, Cicero, Marcos Filho, & Nascimento, 2014, Antonio et al, 2016 have efficiently related the internal morphology of seeds with their physiological quality. However, different evaluation parameters were used to characterize the internal morphology of the seeds such as internal free space and seed categories.…”

“…Radiographic images of seeds combined with techniques of computer image analysis from seedlings indicate new research guidelines towards the development of non-destructive seed analysis methods, enabling integration with quality control programs of production companies (Gomes Junior, 2010). Radiographic image analysis is effective for determining the internal morphology and parameters associated with physiological quality of several species such as maize (Cícero, Van Der Heijden, Van Der Burg, & Bino, 1998;Cícero & Banzatto Junior, 2003), soybean (Flor, Cicero, França-Neto, & Krzyzanowski, 2004), rice (Menezes, Cicero, Villela, & Bortolotto, 2012), papaya (Santos et al, 2009;Dias, Dias, Gomes Junior, & Cicero, 2014), pepper (Dell' Aquila, 2007, bell pepper (Gagliardi & Marcos Filho, 2011), eggplant (Silva, Cicero, & Bennett, 2012), cucumber (Gomes Junior, Chiquito, & Marcos Filho, 2013), jatropha (Pinto, Marcos Filho, Forti, Carvalho, & Gomes Junior, 2009), among other species.…”