Near-infrared hyperspectral imaging for online measurement of the viability detection of naturally aged watermelon seeds

The viability status of seeds before sowing is important to farmers as it allows them to make yield predictions. Monitoring the seed quality in a rapid and nondestructive manner may create a perfect solution, especially for industrial sorting applications. However, current offline laboratory-based strategies employed for the monitoring of seed viability are time-consuming and thus cannot satisfy industrial needs where there is a substantial number of seeds to be analyzed. In this study, we describe a prototype online near-infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging system that can be used for the rapid detection of seed viability. A wavelength range of 900–1700 nm was employed to obtain spectral images of three different varieties of naturally aged watermelon seed samples. The partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model was employed for real-time viability prediction for seed samples moving through a conveyor unit at a speed of 49 mm/sec. A suction unit was further incorporated to develop the online system and it was programmatically controlled to separate the detected viable seeds from nonviable ones. For an external validation sample set showed classification accuracy levels of 91.8%, 80.7%, and 77.8% in relation to viability for the three varieties of watermelon seed with healthy seedling growth. The regression coefficients of the classification model distinguished some chemical differences in viable and nonviable seed which was verified by the chromatographic analysis after the detection of the proposed online system. The results demonstrated that the developed online system with the viability prediction model has the potential to be used in the seed industry for the quality monitoring of seeds.