Patent ID: 8691575

Claim:
A method of classifying plant embryos according to their germination potential, comprising the steps of: (a) acquiring image or spectral data from plant embryos of known germination potential; (b) dividing the acquired image or spectral data from embryos of known germination potential into two classes according to their known germination potential; (c) calculating metrics based on the acquired image or spectral data in each class; (d) calculating multi-dimensional density functions for multiple metrics per each class; (e) comparing the two multi-dimensional density functions calculated in step (d) by calculating a comparison value that is indicative of the relation between the two density functions, the comparison value being classifiable into at least two groups; (f) acquiring image or spectral data from a plant embryo of unknown germination potential and calculating metrics based on the acquired image or spectral data from the embryo of unknown germination potential; and (g) if the metrics of the embryo of unknown germination potential correspond to a comparison value of one group as calculated in step (e), assigning the embryo into one germination potential class, and if the metrics of the embryo of unknown germination potential correspond to a comparison value of another group as calculated in step (e), assigning the embryo into another germination potential class.