Automated leaf shape description for variety testing in chrysanthemums

Breeding new varieties of plant species for agriculture and horticulture is a potentially profitable business that requires considerable investment of equipment, labour and time. Improvements in the varieties of wheat sown in the UK have been partially responsible for a threefold increase in yield over the last fifty years. Because it is not possible to patent plant material a statutory system of Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) has been put in place to protect the interests of the breeders who develop new varieties of plants in the same way as patents protect the interests of inventors who develop novel machines or processes. In the UK the PBR scheme is administered by the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Foods (MAFF) and it is the Ministry which grants PBR once it has been shown that a candidate variety satisfies three basic requirements of being distinct, uniform and stable (DUS). This paper describes work in progress to develop a computerised system that will assess the shape of chrysanthemum leaves in accordance with the DUS guidelines and pass the description directly to the PBR database