A DIGITAL IMAGE ANALYSIS METHOD FOR SELECTING OZONE-INSENSITIVE WHITE BEANS
Rating ozone damage in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) requires visual estimation by experienced evaluators. The objective of this study was to determine whether an alternative digital method based on the mean and standard deviation of pixel brightness values from the video image of a leaf could rapidly and reliably measure ozone sensitivity of white bean breeding lines. Fourteen-day-old seedlings of 35 breeding lines and six parental cultivars were exposed to controlled fumigation with 0.20 μL L−1 ozone for 6 h during each of 4 d in growth chambers. On day 5, injury of the two unifoliolate leaves was evaluated using the digital method and visual estimates of damaged leaf area. The standard deviation of pixel brightness values was significantly correlated with the percentage damaged leaf area estimates (r = 0.68). The digital and visual methods identified most of the same breeding lines as ozone-insensitive, but disagreed on the ranking of the ozone-sensitive lines.Key words: Bean (common), Phaseolus vulgaris L., ozone, video image analysis, selection