Patent ID: 8355900

Claim:
An analysis method for analyzing a branching structure of a panicle, the analysis method comprising: capturing, by an analysis apparatus that comprises at least one computer, a panicle image; extracting, by the analysis apparatus, branches and seed grains from the panicle image; and determining, by the analysis apparatus, a branching state of the branches; wherein determining the branching state of the branches includes storing, by the analysis apparatus, the branching state of the branches in a data file, the data file having a tree structure corresponding to the branching state of the branches; wherein determining the branching state of the branches comprises: setting a root of the panicle to an upstream side; determining an initial starting point on a branch near the root of the panicle; setting a branching point of the branch or an edge point of the branch on a downstream side of the initial starting point to an end point, the branching point or the edge point being next to the initial starting point, the edge point being a point at which a seed grain is produced; setting a region from the initial starting point to the end point to a branch component; determining another branch component while the end point is set to a new starting point when the end point is a branching point; and dividing the whole of the branches of the panicle into branch components; the method further comprising: obtaining a whole pixel average value of gray scale values in all seed grain areas; obtaining a threshold by discriminant analysis; and determining the seed grain to be a state of “fertility” when the whole pixel average value exceeds the threshold, and determining the seed grain to be a state of “sterility” when the whole pixel average value does not exceed the threshold.