For the first time in India, X-ray radiography has been established as an efficient method to quantify the commercially important traits in unshelled peanuts.
The study led by a team of researchers from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-ray Technology (EZRT) demonstrated the potential of X-ray radiography for a rapid and non-destructive determination of key market-related traits from X-ray scans of peanuts while still inside the hull.
Dr Stefan Gerth, Head of Department, EZRT said, “ICRISAT crop researchers pointed to the important gaps frequently restraining the Indian farmers from reaping the benefits of their hard labor, and researchers from rapid breeding of improved crops. The collaboration helped us to adapt our technology so that the gaps can be closed.”
As a result, the peanut pods evaluation process has become more time and labor efficient. What took three-five skilled workers 30 minutes can now be done by a single technician in two minutes. This enables the accurate and timely evaluation of the peanut pods for important market related characteristics like kernel weight or shelling percentage from the X-ray scan of whole unshelled peanut pods.
The computer tomography (CT)-system enabling such analysis is available at ICRISAT headquarters in Hyderabad, India.
Dr Sunita Choudhary, Scientist, Crop Physiology and Modelling, Accelerated Crop Improvement Program, ICRISAT said that the use of X-ray based technology can revolutionize agriculture research, which has been relying on age-old manual methods or time-consuming laboratory testing methods for determining crop post-harvest traits.
As part of the study, novel AI-based algorithms were developed to extract an accurate estimate of the physical traits from X-ray radiographies of whole peanut pods. Due to its success, the X-ray radiography based methods are being integrated into groundnut breeding pipelines. Groundnut breeders at ICRISAT now spend a fraction of the usual time taken and can scan up to 100 samples in a day to pick the best variety for the season.
Dr Janila Pasupuleti, Cluster Leader – Crop Breeding, ICRISAT said currently, advanced image processing algorithms for ‘virtual shelling’ are standardized for estimating shelling percentage, kernel numbers and mass.
“We are expanding these algorithms for estimating the seed size distribution and others. So, one X-ray scan used for determining multiple traits is more cost and time-efficient than the manual process we have been following” said Dr Pasupuleti.
A portable X-ray imaging system will be especially useful in grain value chains where the time needed to assess the economic value of grain by threshing or milling is a significant barrier. ICRISAT and EZRT will work together to facilitate the necessary tech transformation of such grain value chains in the near future.
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international scientific research for development organization, specializing in improving dryland farming and agri-food systems. The Institute was established in 1972, by a consortium led by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundation and with the support from the Government of India. ICRISAT works with global partners to develop innovative science backed solutions to overcoming hunger, malnutrition, poverty and environmental degradation on behalf of the 2.1 billion people who reside in the drylands of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.