Automatic Monitoring System for Seed Germination Test Based on Deep Learning

Germination test is an irreplaceable step in seed selection and breeding. The current traditional germination test method must rely on experienced professional technicians to repeatedly classify and count the germination status of seeds and count the germination rate at different moments during the whole test process (usually takes 2 to 10 days). Currently, only the German seed germination detection system (Germination Scanalyzer) can solve this problem, but it is so expensive that it has not been practically promoted. In order to improve breeding efficiency, an automatic monitoring system for seed germination tests based on deep learning was designed. It includes a modified germination thermostat, connected with a three-dimensional movable camera bin with built-in camera; a multifunctional software system capable of online, offline, and sentinel mode monitoring; a dense distributed small target detection algorithm (DDST-CenterNet) for seed germination monitoring systems. The system test results show that the seed germination test automatic monitoring system is low cost, does not depend on the seed background, light, camera model, and other usage environments, and has high scalability. The DDST-CenterNet algorithm proposed in this paper can still maintain high accuracy and good stability in the process of seed target detection and classification as the number and density of seeds increase, which is suitable for a special application scenario of seed germination test. In addition, the algorithm has high computational efficiency and can give detection results at a frame rate of not less than 10fps, which can be used in practical applications.