Optics: measuring and testing – For light transmission or absorption
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-09
2001-03-27
Pham, Hoa Q. (Department: 2877)
Optics: measuring and testing
For light transmission or absorption
C356S445000, C250S339070, C250S339110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06208420
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for estimating the quality of grains, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus with which the quality of the grains after the harvesting can be estimated during the growth of the grain plant prior to the harvesting.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In respect of the rice, it is already known to estimate the amount of protein content in the final brown rice from the biological data obtained before the harvesting period. For example, there has been a disclosure wherein the protein content rate of the brown rice is estimated from the leaf blade nitrogen content rate at the full heading time (disclosed in Ninth non-destructive measurement symposium, November 1993, by Kansai Branch of Nihon Food Product Industry Association; and in Nutrition diagnosis of rice plant by near infrared ray spectral of a fresh leaf, by Keisuke Yoshimatsu, Agricultural Product Processing Study of Yamaguchi Agricultural Experimental Laboratory). However, according to the disclosed technique; the leaf blade was chemically analyzed for preparing an estimation formula, and it was inevitable to consume the time for the preparation of the estimation formula. Also, when the correlation between the leaf blade from the stalk of the given rice plant and the brown rice harvested from the same is observed, since the leaf blade had to be cut from the stalk and used for the chemical analysis, and since the brown rice had to be harvested from the rice plant from which the leaf blade used for the chemical analysis was missing after the chemical analysis, it could not be denied that there would be a shortage in the component or composition produced by the photosynthesis. To prepare the estimation formula from the leaf blade nitrogen content rate and the amount of the harvested brown rice obtained as above will become a cause for lowering the precision.
For estimating the protein content rate in the wheat grains, there is a disclosed example for estimating the protein content rate in the matured grains based on the protein content rate in the immatured grains 30 days before the harvesting (The journal of agriculture, Victoria, May 1963). The disclosure relates to a method of estimating the protein content rate by chemical analysis of the matured particle based on the protein content rate by chemical analysis of the immatured particle. This method requires time for preparing the estimation formula and, since the stalk of the same wheat as that used for the immatured particle is taken and used for the analysis of the matured particle, a shortage in the component or composition is caused and this becomes a cause for the lowering of the precision for the same reason as for the rice plant as explained above. Also, in the case of wheat, since the plant grows in a dried field, there does not exist, unlike with the rice plant which grows in a paddy field, a damper mechanism in which the weather and the fertilization are standardized by water. For this reason, the wheat plant is under the conditions in which the weather conditions such as the duration of sunshine and the accumulated temperature directly affect through the soil so that, even when a biological data for a certain one period before the harvesting is obtained, there is a possibility that the growth estimation curve changes drastically by the subsequent environmental changes. Therefore, as compared with rice, it is extremely difficult to estimate the protein content amount of the matured wheat particle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention, therefore, is to overcome the problems existing in the prior art, and to provide a method and an apparatus for estimating the quality of grains, in which during the growth of the plant, in order to conduct the estimation of quality precisely and speedily, the measurement can be carried out in an easy and simple manner. The invention provides, for this reason, the method and the apparatus for preparing the estimation formula which save time and labor. Also, the precision of the growth estimation curve can be enhanced even when the estimation curve is apt to be changed easily as in the wheat.
According to the invention, at the predetermined time during the growth period of a grain plant, the quality conversion coefficient for estimating the specific quality after the harvesting is determined from the absorbency relating to the specific quality of the grain obtained by irradiating light on a leaf of a grain plant in growth and the specific quality of the grains after the harvesting. Then, it is so arranged that, at the specific time during the presently growing period, the quality of the grain to be harvested in the future be estimated from the absorbency relating to the specific quality obtained from the plant leaf and the quality conversion coefficient. In this connection, since the absorbency is measured directly from the leaf of the plant growing, the leaf is neither cut nor damaged so that, without damage to the leaf, the subsequent growth up to the harvesting is not affected.
Also, it is so arranged that, the second quality conversion coefficient is determined from the absorbencies obtained at a plurality of predetermined times during the growth and the specific quality after the harvesting, and the quality of the grain to be harvested is estimated from the absorbencies obtained at the plurality of times from the leaf of the grains presently in growth and the second quality conversion coefficient. In this connection, since the quality conversion coefficient which takes into account the absorbencies of the plurality of times obtained from the plant leaf can be determined, the precision of the estimation of the plant which is apt to be influenced by the environments such as soil and weather is enhanced.
When the specific quality is related to the amount of protein content, it is possible to estimate the quality of majority of grains and, in the case of rice, the amount of the protein relates to the taste and the yield, and the yield is increased but the taste is lowered when the amount of protein is large. On the other hand, since it is known that the yield is decreased but the taste is good when the protein is small, the amount of protein serves as a definite parameter for estimating the quality. With respect to wheat and barley, especially wheat, the amount of protein is known as having high correlation with gluten, so that, by knowing the amount of the protein content, the quality of wheat and barley can be estimated. The qualities of the grains estimated based on the different predetermined times are displayed simultaneously so that the qualities estimated respectively at the different predetermined times can be visually observed and grasped. The differences in the qualities estimated at the different times which are observed visually can be regarded as representing degrees of precision in the quality estimation so that it is possible to know as an experimental value the best time for conducting the measurement in a particular plant.
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Hosaka Yukio
Maruyama Hideharu
Nakamura Nobuhiko
Satake Satoru
Yagishita Nobuharu
Fish & Richardson PC
Pham Hoa Q.
Satake Corporation
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