Evaluation of a surface area calculation method based on digital images for agricultural and food products

There are several methods for calculating surface area of agricultural and food materials which have been used since long time ago. Along with the progress in computer science، image processing has been considered as a method that can be used to quantify the apparent characteristics of food and agricultural materials and to substitute human vision. In this research، a digital image processing method has been adopted for surface area calculation. the efficiency of this method was compared with the three customary methods، namely، using Area Measuring System (AMS)، planimeter method، and gravimetric method. Three experiments were devised using different tgpes of samples. Results showed that under all circumstances، the image processing method was no less accurate than the other methods. Moreover، its accuracy was independent of the operator accuracy and skill. The AMS was considerably faster than the other methods. The image processing method stood in the third place after the planimeter method where the time difference between them was less than five seconds.