METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF SEED

摘要

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically assessing seed during the processing thereof, by: a) taking a sample of seed; b) visualizing a sub-population of the sample; c) determining which of the separate seeds of the sub-population is an assessable seed; d) measuring on at least a part of the assessable seeds a parameter from which can be derived whether the seed has the desired quality; e) subject to the parameter value found in step d) adding the value to a total value for good seeds or a total value for empty seeds; f) optionally repeating the steps from step c) until the total sample is analyzed; and g) optionally repeating the steps from step a). The method and apparatus are particularly suitable for the analysis of grass seed, wherein use is made of the fact that grass seed is translucent. Using this translucency it can be determined whether the grass seed is good or empty.