May 2007

RESEARCH UPDATE - DETECTION OF FUSARIUM KERNELS

May 31, 2007 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Spectrum Scientific recently filed for a patent on technology that may give farmers an economical way to separate fusarium-infected wheat kernels from healthy kernels, potentially increasing the value of the crop they deliver.

With the help of an ARDI grant, Spectrum Scientific, in cooperation with the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Manitoba, has been investigating the possibility of using high-speed optics to rapidly distinguish between healthy wheat kernels and those infected with fusarium head blight.

Dr. David Prystupa, President of Spectrum Scientific, is able to send 450 kernels per second through a stream of light, immediately identifying them as healthy or diseased.  Once detected, diseased kernels are blown into a separate bin.  Prystupa developed the technology with farmers in mind, ensuring the equipment is small enough for on-farm use.

“The idea is to replace cleaning methods used now,” says Prystupa.  “Farmers can clean their grain at home instead of paying for cleaning at delivery.  And, since the diseased kernels are removed on the farm, they may get a higher grade for their wheat.”

The science of spectroscopy involves the interaction of light with material.  Prystupa’s research involved understanding how light scatters differently from healthy kernels than from diseased kernels or material such as dirt or weeds.  The next step was to develop a system to quickly separate the healthy kernels from all of the other material.

Prystupa filed for a patent on this combined method of separating kernels for analysis, detecting which ones are healthy, and separating them into different streams in April, 2007.  He expects that his system will clean five to six tonnes of grain per hour.  Prystupa has recently been awarded MRAC funding to scale up the lab work to a commercial scale.

Prystupa holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Waterloo, specializing in spectroscopy.  His research has been supported by the Deep River Science Academy, a program to provide the highest-achieving high school science students in the country with lab experience.

ARDI is a research and development granting program of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives.  It is funded through the Agricultural Policy Framework, a federal-provincial-territorial long-term action plan for agriculture.

ARDI program information, applications and application guidelines can be found at www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/research/ardi/.

For more information, please contact:

David Prystupa, President, Spectrum Scientific

Phone: (204) 753-2003

David Gislason, ARDI Council Chair

Phone: (204) 376-5578

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