Assessing breakage and cracks of parboiled rice kernels by image analysis techniques

This paper deals with the measurement of breakage ratio and the estimation of fissures on parboiled rice by image analysis on unarranged grain samples. Hardware cost of the apparatus is low since it is based on standard off-the-shelf scanner. in addition, open source (free) software is used to complete the experimental setup. An innovative technique for segmentation of touching kernels is used, combined with breakage estimation based on geometric properties and crack estimation using a new image analysis technique. This inexpensive system is validated with reference measurements for breakage and visual inspection for cracks. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.