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A DIGITAL IMAGING TECHNIQUE TO QUANTIFY THE INCIDENCE OF INTERNAL BROWNING IN POTATO (SOLANUM TUBEROSUM) TUBERS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2008

S. M. HARPER*
Affiliation:
Horticulture and Forestry Science, Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia
F. P. C. BLAMEY
Affiliation:
School of Land, Crop and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
*
Corresponding author: stephen.harper@dpi.qld.gov.au

Summary

Internal browning disorders, including brown fleck (BF), in potato (Solanum tuberosum) tubers greatly reduce tuber quality, but the causes are not well understood. This is due, in part, to the highly variable data provided by visual value-based rating systems. A digital imaging technique was developed to quantify accurately the incidence of internal browning in potato tubers. Images of tuber sections were scanned using a flatbed scanner and digitally enhanced to highlight tuber BF lesions, and the area of affected tissue calculated using pixel quantification software. Digital imaging allowed for the determination of previously unused indices of the incidence and severity of internal browning in potato tubers. Statistical analysis of the comparison between digitally derived and visual-rating BF data from a glasshouse experiment showed that digital data greatly improved the delineation of treatment effects. The F-test probability was further improved through square root or logarithmic data transformations of the digital data, but not of the visual-rating data. Data from a field experiment showed that the area of tuber affected by BF and the number of small BF lesions increased with time and with increase in tuber size. The results from this study indicate that digital imaging of internal browning disorders of potato tubers holds much promise in determining their causes that heretofore have proved elusive.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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