Development of safe storage guidelines for prairie-grown flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum) and characterization of stored seeds using near infrared spectroscopy
| dc.contributor.author | Mundhada, Sristi | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Cenkowski, Stefan (Biosystems Engineering) Hervet, Vincent (Entomology) | en_US |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Paliwal, Jitendra (Biosystems Engineering) Erkinbaev, Chyngyz (Biosystems Engineering) | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-01-21T16:27:08Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-01-21T16:27:08Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 2022-01-19 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-01-19 | en_US |
| dc.date.submitted | 2022-01-19T19:24:36Z | en_US |
| dc.degree.discipline | Biosystems Engineering | en_US |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Science (M.Sc.) | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Canada is the largest producer of flaxseed in the world with a production of 483.2 thousand tonnes in 2019. Maintaining the quality of huge amounts of seeds especially under constantly varying environmental conditions is an ongoing challenge. Therefore, the current research focuses on developing safe storage guidelines for flaxseed, which can help farmers plan proper post-harvest operations to avoid losses. Locally sourced flaxseed was conditioned to moisture contents of 7, 8, 9, and 13% and stored in relative humidity (RH) conditions of 54, 65, 75, and 94% at temperatures of 10, 20, and 30℃ for 16 weeks. The indices of spoilage were seed germination, free fatty acid value (FAV), visible mold, and protein content. The influence of temperature, RH, and storage period on germination rate and FAV was statistically significant (P = 0.05). The protein content did not change significantly with relative humidity, but a significant change was observed due to temperature. The seeds must be dried within 3 weeks of storage if it is to be stored at a moisture content of 13% or above and at temperatures over 20 °C. Samples at 10 and 20°C can be safely stored for at least 16 weeks if MC is maintained between 7 and 9%. Another goal of this study is to use non-destructive imaging techniques of visible near-infrared (Vis-NIR; 450-1100 nm) and shortwave infrared (SWIR; 1000-2500 nm) hyperspectral imaging for stored flaxseed quality assessment. Principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and partial least squares regression (PLSR) models were developed to model flax quality. Satisfactory groupings were demonstrated through PCA models in the Vis-NIR range based on storage period and temperature. PCA in the SWIR range distinguished flaxseed based on initial MC. The PLS-DA model achieved classification accuracies of 81.5, 72.8, and 87.5 % in calibration, cross-validation, and external prediction for flaxseed based on initial MC, respectively. The PLSR prediction model for MC and FAV yielded reliable results but not for predicting protein content and germination rate. As a result, it was established that NIRS may be utilized by food processors and farmers to analyze flaxseed quality non-destructively. | en_US |
| dc.description.note | February 2022 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/36202 | |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | Flaxseed, relative humidity, temperature, moisture content, visible mold, FAV, germination, storage guidelines, near-infrared spectroscopy | en_US |
| dc.title | Development of safe storage guidelines for prairie-grown flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum) and characterization of stored seeds using near infrared spectroscopy | en_US |
| dc.type | master thesis | en_US |