Thermal analysis and artificial vision of laser irradiation on corn

Currently evaluation of agricultural product quality is of great importance, in order to guarantee a consumption free of contaminants. In different research areas several techniques are used to evaluate food attributes, related to its quality. Among the techniques used to characterize food stuffs, photothermal techniques have shown versatility to obtain different physical parameters of foods. In the present investigation, the temperature variation effects of different varieties of corn kernels, when excited by laser light during 60 s, were obtained from digital and thermal images, which were analyzed by using artificial vision for characteristic color patterns and geometric measurements to observe the thermal effects, respectively. From these images it was possible to observe variations in temperature, through differences in digital and thermal images of corn samples. Also photoacoustic (PA) spectra were obtained in a wavelength range from 300 to 750 nm, for each variety of corn kernels. Different behaviors of both, image analysis and the PA spectra, showing that one variety of corn kernels present a greater response in both techniques compared to the other varieties. The information obtained could be used in food production areas to identify, classify and determine attributes of grains and seeds of different types of crops.