Determining the area of sugar beet using digital image processing method and its correlation with the technological factors

Sugar beet is considered as a one of the strategic industrial plant and the main source of sugar production in Iran and the world's. The present study was carried outduring the operation period timein 1392 on sugar beet sent to Hamedan sugar factory. The images of sugar beet samples was obtained using flat-bed scanner. Then the various characteristics of images, such as area of sugar beet, were determined using MATLAB software. The physicochemical analysis such as determining of sugar content, sodium, potassium and nitrogen was done. Result shows that some physicochemical properties are in related to the area of sugar beets. For instance, the correlation between area and sugar content, white sugar content, extraction sugar coefficient(ESC) and molasses was (R2= - 0.696), (R2= - 0.724) , (R2= -0.679) and (R2= 0.459), respectively. According to these results, it can be concluded that the decrease in sugar content and increase the amount of impurities in sugar beet, was correlated with sugar beet area, and by increasing in the size and area of sugar beet, the sugar content was reduced and the impurities was increases.