X-ray Imaging for Non-destructive Crop Yield Assessment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for assessing yield and stress tolerance in crop plants, such as maize and soybean, are resource-intensive and destructive, requiring significant time, manpower, and acreage, and are not suitable for rapid evaluation.
Innovation Solution
The use of X-ray imaging and computed tomography to acquire and process two-dimensional images into three-dimensional models, allowing for non-destructive evaluation of physical properties like ear length, seed count, and stress tolerance in crop plants, enabling rapid and efficient assessment of yield and stress tolerance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional field testing methods are used to assess yield and stress tolerance, then accurate evaluation can be obtained, but significant time, manpower, acreage, and monetary resources are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical field testing methods with X-ray imaging technology to assess plant traits. The system uses X-ray sources and detectors to capture images of plant structures (ears, pods, seeds) and automatically analyzes them to determine yield-related parameters, eliminating the need for manual harvesting, weighing, and counting while maintaining measurement accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates digital copies of plant structures through X-ray imaging. Instead of physically handling and measuring actual plant parts, the system captures detailed images that serve as digital replicas, allowing for non-destructive analysis of internal structures such as seed count, ear length, and pod characteristics without disturbing the plants.
2Loss of information
If traditional field testing methods are used to assess yield and stress tolerance, then comprehensive data can be collected, but extensive time and resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables continuous data collection by imaging plants at multiple developmental stages without interruption. The system can rapidly scan multiple plants in sequence, capturing images of ears, pods, and seeds continuously as plants move through the imaging station, allowing for longitudinal studies of plant development and yield accumulation over time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional visual inspection to three-dimensional X-ray imaging, adding a new dimension of information about internal plant structures. This allows simultaneous measurement of multiple parameters (ear length, diameter, seed count, pod mass) from a single imaging session, comprehensively characterizing plant traits without requiring separate measurements.
3Measurement precision
If destructive sampling methods are used to measure plant traits, then direct measurement of physical properties is possible, but the plants cannot be further evaluated or reused
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces destructive mechanical measurement methods with non-destructive X-ray imaging. Instead of harvesting and physically measuring plant parts, the system uses penetrating radiation to visualize and measure internal structures such as seed rows, kernel count, and pod characteristics, preserving the plants for continued growth and additional evaluations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs measurements before the plants reach maturity or are harvested. By imaging plants at intermediate stages, the system can assess yield potential and stress tolerance early, allowing researchers to make selection decisions without waiting for full maturation and without preventing the plants from completing their life cycle if desired.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method allows for rapid, non-destructive, and cost-effective evaluation of crop plant traits, reducing the need for extensive field testing and enabling high-throughput analysis of transgenic plants, thereby accelerating plant development and reducing resource consumption.
Implementation Method 1
multiple two-dimensional (2-D) X ray images of the crop plant or a part thereof are acquired using an X ray imaging system
Implementation Method 2
the images or a select sampling of the images are processed into a single composition (referred to as a voxel) using computed tomography to generate a three-dimensional (3-D) image
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to methods for non-destructively assessing yield and/or stress tolerance in crop plants through the use of high-energy particle based imaging and analysis including X rays. Also provided are methods to non-destructively assess transgenic crop plants for the effects of a transgene on yield and/or on stress tolerance.