Rapid Vitality Estimation and Prediction of Corn Seeds Based on Spectra and Images Using Deep Learning and Hyperspectral Imaging Techniques

Abstract

Highly viable seeds are of great significance for agricultural development, and the traditional corn seed vigor detection method is time-consuming and laborious. In this paper, the spectral and image information of hyperspectral imaging was used, and a distinction between seed vigor detection and prediction was proposed. The potential of hyperspectral imaging technology and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to identify and predict maize seed vitality was evaluated. The hyperspectral information in 10 hours before the germination of four vigor level seeds (144 samples each) was collected. A support vector machine, extreme learning machine, and one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1DCNN) were used to model the spectral data set, comparing the effects of multidimensional scattering correction and principal component analysis. 1DCNN performed best on the original spectral data, reaching an accurate recognition of 90.11%. According to the spectral changes of the seed germination, the first three hours of data were selected for prediction, which had higher recognition accuracy than the test set. The image-based 2DCNN model achieved 99.96% accurate recognition at a fast convergence speed. By differentiating the spectra and image information, the various CNN models can achieve accurate detection and prediction, providing a framework to advance research on seed germination.