Abstract
Description of topic: Barley harvest 2007 in Europe has seen the resurgence of crops highly infected
by filamentous fungi. Hence the evaluation of fungal infection on barley and malt kernels by
conventional optical measurement methods lacks accuracy and can be tedious. Here we are
presenting a new vision system to rapidly perform this task using the VideometerLab®. This system
provides a rapid colour, shape and texture measurement, ideal to analyze kernels surfaces. The
principle employed is a high-intensity sphere illuminated by light emitting diodes together with a highresolution
black and white camera. The digital image is acquired in less than 10 seconds, over an 18
bands spanning ranging from the ultra-blue (430 nm) to the near-infrared (970 nm) and then analyzed
by the VideometerLab® statistical analysis software.
Materials and methods for data collection: Sixty European barley samples from harvest 2004, 2007
and 2008 were collected and screened for their degree of fungal infection using the VideometerLab®
equipment. In parallel these samples were analyzed for their Fusarium and hydrophobins content
using real-time PCR and/or competitive ELISA. As reference samples, kernels with low content of
Fusarium and hydrophobins were selected and highly infected kernels, artificially inoculated with F.
culmorum or F. graminearum, were produced.
Results: A good correlation between competitive ELISA tests, real-time PCR experiments and
VideometerLab® prediction was found (R2=0.75). The results obtained indicate that the
videometerlab® equipment can accurately evaluate the percentage of global fungal infection in
kernels.
Discussion: We believe that this system will be able to discriminate between kernels infected from
non-infected ones in mixed samples. This system will allow to quantify the level of infection and
indirectly the level of fungal mycotoxins in barley and malt crops. This equipment has the potential of
becoming an efficient tool for screening the quality of barley and malt kernels to be used in malteries
and breweries.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 2009 |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 |
| Event | 32nd EBC Congress - Hamburg, Germany Duration: 10 May 2009 → 14 May 2009 |
Conference
| Conference | 32nd EBC Congress |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Germany |
| City | Hamburg |
| Period | 10/05/2009 → 14/05/2009 |