Application of Non-Destructive Devices for Determination of Alkaloid Level in Dioscorea Hispida

The potential of microwave and imaging application in the determination of alkaloid in Dioscorea hispida tubers were explored. The microwave device is used to measure the coefficient permittivity of microwave level at tubers surface using mechanical probe. With the same tubers, 40 grams was selected for chemical analysis at a laboratory for the programme of East Coastal Economic Regions – Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia (ECER-KPT UniSZA). The samples were selected from 12 portions of 2 plants (I and B) collected from Kampung Kudat, Ajil, Terengganu, Malaysia. The result show that the correlation between microwave level and weight of alkaloid with regression, R2 is >0.8 is acceptable. For imaging application, the images of variety harvested of Dioscorea hispida will be captured, and then the images will be analysed using the developed color histogram module to determine the maximum Hue image value of Dioscorea hispida at different stages of viscosity. The prediction was also made on the statistical relationship between Hue and dioscorine viscosity in the fruit. The development on both studies is grouped as nondestructive method to determine the dioscorine content which is one of the alkaloid components in the tubers of Dioscorea hispida.