Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION
 ABSTRACT

Agriculture is one of the major sectors of the Indian economy. Agriculture is the

main occupation in India. Two-third of population is dependent on agriculture

directly or indirectly. A seed is the first stage in the life cycle of a plant .The most

crucial period in cultivation of plant is the period between harvest and planting .

The seed test for germination is a time consuming process which may extend

beyond its germinating period. Hence we propose a tetrazolium based test for

measuring the vigour/strength of a seedling .This quick test is combined with

Matlab for accurate index of seedling with indication of the vigour, kind of defects

and its defected area. This project is aimed on commercial production by testing

large amount of dormant seeds for germination in a very short period.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Seeds are one of the most fundamental elements of agriculture and forestry.

Seed viability is of great significance in seed quality characteristics reflecting

potential seed germination, and there is a great need for a quick and effective

method to determine the germination condition and viability of seeds prior to

cultivate, sale and plant.TZ test is found to be one such effective method of finding

seed vigour.There are several radio technology techniques available for finding

seed vigour which are unhealthy for harvesting and consumption since

radioisotopes affect the morphology of the seed. But seeds undergoing TZ tests can

be cultivated. This technique is effective but also a healthy way of finding seed

vigour
1.2 OBJECTIVE

 To perform preconditioning of seeds.

 To perform colouration of seeds.

 To quantify affected area of the seed.

 To determine colour of affected area.

 To determine the type of defect of the seed under test.

 To estimate the vigour and longevity of the seed.

 Chapter 2

LITERATURE SURVEY
CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE SURVEY

1 . X-RAY CT IMAGE ANALYSIS FOR MORPHOLOGY OF

MUSKMELON SEED IN RELATION TO GERMINATION:

The seed of muskmelon is consumed as a source of protein, vitamins,

minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids .This study investigates the morphological

characteristics of naturally aged muskmelon seed in relation to germination ability.

Internal morphological damage can have critical effects on the development and

germination of seeds.

CT imaging is a potential tool for the classification of seeds

based on the characterisation of internal morphologically. An X-ray microCT

scanner was employed to generate CT images and then several image processing

techniques were applied to find the internal characteristics of the seeds . A

germination test was performed to evaluate the seed viability and the information

was used to construct the training and validation data set. The seeds were divided
into 2 groups: viable (group-1) and non-viable (group-0).It is a effective test of

finding vigour of seed and other features of it with an accuracy of 98.9%

2 .TETRAZOLIUM TEST FOR SEED VIABILITY AND VIGOUR

WITHOUT IMAGE PROCESSING:

Germination test is the best indication of the potential of a seed. But it

takes from days to weeks even months to complete. Tetrazolium test, commonly

known as the TZ test for seed viability helps to achieve quick estimates of seed

germinability.The stored seeds after harvest though they are dry the the cells in the

seed undergoes respiration process.In mid nineteens a German scientist Lakon

found that all living tissues produces a coloured component when treated with TZ

solution.This reaction process is used to find the active and inactive part of the

seeds.The analysis of this information helps to find the seed vigour.But human

observation and some analysis were conducted for finding seed vigour which

makes it tiresome.

3. NON-DESTRUCTIVE METHOD OF SEED TESTING USING

SPECTROSCOPY:
 This technique is based on absorption of electromagnetic radiation in

various wavelengths in infrared region. The radiation interacting with a sample is

absorbed, transmitted or reflected. The absorption leads to combination of

chemical bonds which leads to detect internal organic compounds. The vibration of

the chemical bonds helps to absorb images in near infra red region. The

multispectral images obtained using image processing techniques were

transformed. The transformation is performed by a technique called normalized

canonical discriminant analysis. It is used to calculate each pixel within the seed

for observing seed colours. This distinguishes the normal seed from dead seed

within accuracy of 92%.