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Automatic image processing morphometric method for the analysis of tracheid double wall thickness tested on juvenile Picea omorika trees exposed to static bending

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We present and test an automatic image processing morphometric method for the analysis of tracheid double wall thickness.

Abstract

Measurements of various anatomical characteristics of wood cells are of great importance in research of wood structure, either for the evaluation of environmental influences or for estimation of wood quality. We present and test an automatic image processing morphometric method for the analysis of tracheid double wall thickness. A new algorithm of image analysis was developed. It uses morphological processing of structural elements with the different orientations from distance maps to analyze tracheid double wall thickness distribution separately for radial walls, tangential walls, and cell corners. For testing the performance of the method, we used confocal laser scanning microscopy images of stem cross-sections of juvenile Picea omorika trees exposed to long-term static bending. As a response to mechanical stress, conifers form compression wood (CW), which occurs in a range of gradations from near normal wood (NW) to severe CW. However, visual detection of compression wood severity, more precisely the determination of mild CW, is difficult. One of the anatomic features that characterize CW is increased wall thickness. After testing proposed automatic image processing morphometric method for the analysis of tracheid double wall thickness separately for radial walls, tangential walls and cell corners, combined with statistical analysis, we could suggest it as a tool for estimation of compression wood severity, or for estimation and gradation of changes in tracheid cell wall thickness as a response to environmental influences during growth and developmental process.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Grant 173017 of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. It was also funded by the bilateral project “Structural anisotropy of plant cell walls of various origin and their constituent polymers, using differential-polarized laser scanning microscopy (DP-LSM)”, of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Hungary (Institutions: IMSI, University of Belgrade, Serbia, and Institute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Center, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary), and the bilateral project “Advanced image analysis on micron scale in biology and medicine” of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Belarus (Institutions: IMSI, University of Belgrade, Serbia, and United Institute of Informatics Problems, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus). The study was also partly funded by the project Algain (EE2.3.30.0059) and institutional projects Algatech (CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0110), GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00001 and Algatech Plus (MSMT LO1416).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. United Institute of Informatics Problems, Surganova 6, Minsk, Belarus

    Aleksander Nedzved & Valery Starovoytov

  2. Institute for Multidisciplinary Research, University of Belgrade, Kneza Višeslava 1, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Aleksandra Lj. Mitrović, Aleksandar Savić, Dragosav Mutavdžić, Jasna Simonović Radosavljević, Jelena Bogdanović Pristov & Ksenija Radotić

  3. Laboratoire de Spectrochimie Infrarouge et Raman-UMR 8516, Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies, 59655, Villeneuve d’Ascq Cedex, France

    Aleksandar Savić

  4. Institute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Center, Szeged, 6701, Hungary

    Gabor Steinbach & Győző Garab

  5. Institute of Microbiology, CAS, Centrum Algatech, Třeboň, Czech Republic

    Gabor Steinbach

Authors
  1. Aleksander Nedzved
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  2. Aleksandra Lj. Mitrović
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  3. Aleksandar Savić
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  4. Dragosav Mutavdžić
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  5. Jasna Simonović Radosavljević
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  6. Jelena Bogdanović Pristov
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  7. Gabor Steinbach
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  8. Győző Garab
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  9. Valery Starovoytov
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  10. Ksenija Radotić
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Aleksander Nedzved or Aleksandra Lj. Mitrović.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by Y. Sano.

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Nedzved, A., Mitrović, A.L., Savić, A. et al. Automatic image processing morphometric method for the analysis of tracheid double wall thickness tested on juvenile Picea omorika trees exposed to static bending. Trees 32, 1347–1356 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-018-1716-x

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