METHODS FOR COUNTING CORN SILKS OR OTHER PLURAL ELONGATED STRANDS AND USE OF THE COUNT FOR CHARACTERIZING THE STRANDS OR THEIR ORIGIN

摘要

Methods for relatively high throughput counting of elongated strands including silks of a plant. One method includes segregating similar sized pieces of silks from a section of the plant's silk brush and quantitatively counting the pieces using an automated method. The automated method can be a digital image of the pieces distributed across or above a surface, and image analysis to derive a count of individual pieces. An alternative automated method is to move the pieces sequentially and substantially singulated past a detector.