An aspect of the invention provides a method for determining at least one internal quality attribute of an article (102) of in agricultural produce. The method includes receiving a plurality of first spectroscopic values obtained from directing low band light in a first wavelength associated to a low band of wavelengths from at least one low band light source (104) at least partly through the article (102) toward at least one detector (120); receiving a plurality of second spectroscopic values obtained from directing high band light in a second wavelength associated to a high band of wavelengths from at least one high band light source (106) at least partly through the article (102) toward the at least one detector (120); determining at least one measured spatial profile associated to the article, the at least one measured spatial profile comprising at least one of a plurality of ratios of respective first spectroscopic values to respective second spectroscopic values, a plurality of ratios of respective second spectroscopic values to respective first spectroscopic values; and determining the at least one internal quality attribute at least partly from a comparison of the at least one measured spatial profile with at least one reference spatial profile associated to a class of articles of agricultural produce.

A method and a device for crop canopy chlorophyll fluorescence three-dimensional distribution information acquisition are provided. The device includes a Cropobserver canopy chlorophyll fluorescence detection device, a 3D camera and a computer system. The 3D camera is connected to the computer system, Visual studio 2017 and MATLAB 2018 are run in the computer system, and the Visual studio 2017 calls a point cloud library and a computer vision library to realize three-dimensional visualization of chlorophyll fluorescence information of crops to be tested. By means of the new method and the new device, the problem of incompleteness of the two-dimensional chlorophyll fluorescence information distribution acquired is solved, overall 3D visual distribution of crop canopy chlorophyll fluorescence distribution is realized, and important technical support is provided for acquisition and research of three-dimensional visual distribution information of chlorophyll fluorescence of the whole crop canopy.

The spectroscopic measuring instrument includes: a spectrometer to make measurement of a reflection spectrum of an object relative to a light source and output measurement information representing a result of the measurement; a shadow projector including obstacle(s) to allow light from the light source to cast shadow(s) on an object surface; an imaging device to output image information representing an image of an imaging area including the object surface; a storage interface removably connectable to a computer readable medium; and a processing device. The processing device is connected to the spectrometer, the imaging device and the storage interface, and performs a measurement process of storing the measurement information from the spectrometer and the image information from the imaging device in the computer readable medium connected to the storage interface.

An information processing system includes a storage, an interface device, and a computing circuit. The storage stores a database, in which spectrum data concerning light from a light source and a measurement condition data at a time of measurement of the light are associated with a plant status data concerning growth of a plant and/or a harvest data concerning a harvest of the plant. The interface device receives an input of a user measurement condition which is to be applied at a time of measurement of the plant by a user and which includes data concerning angles at the time of measurement and data concerning a plant status and/or a harvest to be predicted. The computing circuit determines at least two wavelengths contained in the light from the light source to be measured under the user measurement condition by referring to the database based on the user measurement condition.

A method for removing foreign matter from an agricultural product stream of a manufacturing process. The method includes conveying a product stream past an inspection station; scanning a region of the agricultural product stream as it passes the inspection station using at least one light source of a single or different wavelengths; generating hyperspectral images from the scanned region; determining a spectral fingerprint for the agricultural product stream from the hyperspectral images; comparing the spectral fingerprint obtained in step (c) to a spectral fingerprint database containing a plurality of fingerprints using a computer processor to determine whether foreign matter is present and, if present, generating a signal in response thereto; and removing a portion of the conveyed product stream in response to the signal. A system for detecting foreign matter within an agricultural product stream is also provided.

Various embodiments disclosed relate to methods of predicting neutral detergent fiber digestibility (NDFD) properties of a feedstuff sample. A method of predicting neutral detergent fiber digestibility (NDFD) properties of a feedstuff sample includes collecting a near-infrared spectrum of the feedstuff sample to provide NIR data of the feedstuff sample. The method also includes predicting NDFD of the sample at an elapsed time, NDFD rate of the sample, and/or NDFD extent of the sample from the NIR data using a NIR/NDFD calibration model. Various embodiments provide a method of developing the NIR/NDFD calibration model using in vitro gas production (IVGP). Various embodiments provide a method of predicting digestibility of the feedstuff sample for an animal at a rumen passage rate (eNDF).

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for obtaining image information of an organism including a set of optical data; calculating a growth index based on the set of optical data; and calculating an anticipated harvest time based on the growth index, where the image information includes at least one of: (a) visible image data obtained from an image sensor and non-visible image data obtained from the image sensor, and (b) a set of image data from at least two image capture devices, where the at least two image capture devices capture the set of image data from at least two positions.

A method for determining the growth stage of a plant is disclosed. The method comprises illuminating the plant with illumination light. The illumination light causes response light from the plant. The method further comprises detecting the response light from the plant, and, based on the detected response light, determining the growth stage of the plant. In this method, (i) illuminating the plant comprises illuminating with at least partially polarized illumination light, and/or (ii) detecting the response light comprises polarization filtering the response light.

The present invention relates to the use of a Raman spectral signature for detection of plant metabolites, specifically carotenoids, in tissue of a plant leaf. Carotenoids are used as a biomarker for an early, real-time diagnosis of shade avoidance syndrome (SAS) in growing plants in a non-invasive or non-destructive way in order to detect the adverse effect of the SAS upon their health, and ultimately their yield. The early, real-time diagnosis of SAS provides a window period within which further adverse effects of SAS may be slowed or prevented without negatively affecting the yield of growing plants or leafy vegetables.

An agricultural system with an agricultural harvester has a terahertz sensor. The terahertz sensor includes at least one a terahertz source disposed to direct electromagnetic radiation toward a harvest material of the agricultural harvester. A terahertz detector is disposed to detect the terahertz electromagnetic radiation after the terahertz electromagnetic radiation interacts with the harvest material. A controller is operably coupled to the terahertz detector and is configured to detect a harvest-related parameter based on a signal from the terahertz detector and to perform an action based on a detected parameter.