EVALUACIÓN DE CARACTERES MORFOLÓGICOS Y ESTRUCTURALES DEL GRANO DE ARROZ VARIEDAD MORELOS A-98 MEDIANTE ANÁLISIS FRACTAL DE IMÁGENES DIGITALES

Abstract

Rice is one of the main crops of Morelos, the varieties produced in this State have been worldwide recognized because of its high culinary and sensory quality, Currently Morelos A-98 variety generated and released by the National Institute of Forest, Agricultural Investigations and Livestock of Mexico (INIFAP) was cultivated and marketed in Morelos. This variety is characterized by the presence of a starchy white opaque spot in the ventral region in more than 20% of the grain surface, well-known as ―White belly‖ (WB). This feature to be influenced by environmental factors such as high temperatures that interrupt the normal filling of the grain during its development, therefore it was considered as a distinctive and desirable trait in some rice varieties, particularly in Morelos A-98. In this work there were used optical microscopy, scanning electronic microscopy, digital image analysis and fractal dimension were used for the morphostructural characterization of rice MorA98 endosperm in five stages of physiological maturation (7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days after anthesis DAF) and four panicle positions; also grain morphometric characteristics were described through four dimensional descriptors, three shape descriptors, fractal dimension of perimeter (Dfp), area (Dfa) and texture (Dft) and two textural parameters (entropy and second angular momentum) all of these asociated with temperature and environmental humidity in the probable formation of the WB in the grain of this rice variety. Finally, was made a morphostructural, physico-chemical and thermal comparison of the Morelos A-98 variety with the Filipino miracle variety and three commercial products that make reference to the ―Morelos‖ variety .