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Foldscope: An Efficient Tool for Quality Analysis of Seeds and Grains for Farmers

November 2019

Authors:

Lyallpur Khalsa College Jalandhar (Research and Reviews in Biotechnology and Bio sciences)

Foldscope is an ultra-affordable, paper microscope designed to be extremely portable, durable, and to give optical quality similar to conventional research microscopes. However its potential as in tool in the area of agricultural farmers is still not known. In this study, how foldscope can be used as an efficient tool for farmers in their fields was demonstrated. Seeds of wheat, maize, moong dal and black dal were purchased from local market. Imbibed seeds were half opened and stained in tetrazolium solution. Seed viability coupled with germination plays an fundamental role in plant growth, development and crop productivity. Therefore, foldscope images revealed viable red areas in the respective seeds, indicating live embryos. Based on data the use of foldscope was recommended.

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Research & Reviews in Biotechnology & Biosciences ISSN No: 2321-8681

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),

Foldscope: An Efficient Tool for Quality Analysis of Seeds and

Grains for Farmers

Arun dev Sharma1, Priya Nischal1

1PG Dept of Biotechnology, Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, Punjab, India

*Corresponding author: E mail: arundevsharma47@gmail.com

10.5281/zenodo.3459500

Abstract

Foldscope is an ultra-affordable, paper microscope designed to be

extremely portable, durable, and to give optical quality similar to

conventional research microscopes. However its potential as in tool

in the area of agricultural farmers is still not known. In this study,

how foldscope can be used as an efficient tool for farmers in their

fields was demonstrated. Seeds of wheat, maize, moong dal and

black dal were purchased from local market. Imbibed seeds were half

opened and stained in tetrazolium solution. Seed viability coupled

with germination plays an fundamental role in plant growth,

development and crop productivity. Therefore, foldscope images

revealed viable red areas in the respective seeds, indicating live

embryos. Based on data the use of foldscope was recommended.

Keywords: Farmers, Foldscope, Quality control, Seeds, Viability.

Introduction

Foldscope, is an paper based, portable

microscope with magnification power of 140

X. It was invented by Prakash lab at

Stanford University of America in 2014 [1].

Thereafter, Department of Biotechnology

(DBT), Government of India and Prakash

Lab at Stanford University, USA earlier

signed an agreement to bring the Foldscope

to India to encourage curiosity in science.

Efficient tools to check purity of seeds or

grains, variety identification, seed

germination testing is prerequisite as for as

the quality control in agriculture is

concerned. Seeds which are generally soldin

market often adulterated with low quality

seeds having poor germination thereby

reducing the productivity of crops. Quality

of seeds can be checked through

examination under microscopes, however,

filed microscopy is not routinely used for

quality control of seeds due to high cost and

big size of microscopes. Various approaches

have been used to examine seed quality,

however the role of foldscope as an efficient

tool in quality control of seeds is not known

worldwide so far.With this background, the

present study was carried out to assess the

usefulness of portable foldscope for quality

evaluation of crop seeds. Due to its less cost,

environmental friendly, small size, and

portable in nature, can be widely used even

by agriculture farmers in the field conditions

for quality control of seeds like wheat,

cereals and maize which are widely grown

and cultivated crops in India.

Material and methods

Foldscope was used in current study, was

supplied by Department of Biotechnology

(DBT), Government of India. Seeds of locally

grown crop varieties like wheat

(Triticumaestivum), maize (Zeamays), Moong

dal (Vignaradiata) and Maa dal (Vignamungo)

was purchased from local market. Seeds

Research & Reviews in Biotechnology & Biosciences

Homepage: http://www.biotechjournal.in

Volume: 6, Issue: 2, Year: 2019 PP: 1-4

Short paper

Article History

Received: 03/07/2019

Revised: 29/07/2019

Accepted: 15/09/2019

*Corresponding Author:

E-Mail:

arundevsharma47@gmail.com

Research & Reviews in Biotechnology & Biosciences ISSN No: 2321-8681

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),

were imbibed in water for overnight.

Thereafter seeds (10 seeds= one replicate (n);

Fig. 1Foldscope images of crop seeds. Data

represent representative image from three

replicates (n). n=3

n=3) were half opened with a pair of

tweezers and incubated in 1% Tetrazolium

solution (pH 7.0) for 15 min at room

temperature. A lactophenol solution was

used as a clearing agent if vision was not

clear after staining. Thin section of tissues

were taken on glass slides and covered with

transparent cello tape/cover slip. The slide

was inserted into the foldscope in such a

way that sample side was close to lens of

foldscope. A LED light supplied with

foldscope instruments was used a light

source. The clear images under foldscope for

each sample were photographed using cell

phone camera (Samsung, Galaxy Tab A) by

adjusting zoom and focusing of camera and

foldscope. Red stained areas indicate live

tissue.

Result and discussion

Seed viability coupled with germination

plays an fundamental role in plant growth,

development and crop productivity [2].

Foldscope images of various seeds like

wheat, moog dal, Maa dal and maize were

taken and analyzed (Fig. 1 and

supplementary Fig. 1). With staining with

tetrazolium solution, well defined red areas

in each seed section were detected,

indicating that seeds contained live

embryos. Living tissue contains

dehydrogenase enzymes, which reduce the

tetrazolium chloride to formazan, a reddish,

water-insoluble compound. This reaction

only happens in or near living cells that are

releasing hydrogen as they respire, so

staining indicates the seed is living. Based

on this data it was concluded that foldscope

can be a cheap, portable and powerful

efficient tool to evaluate seeds quality at the

spot in farmers fields under local agronomic

conditions. Further studies can be conducted

to make it easy to identify foreign verities,

mites or fungal diseases in seed samples.

Acknowledgement

ADS want to thank DBT, Govt. of India for

giving Foldscope project grant.

Conflict of interest

Authors declares no conflict of interest

Compliance with Ethical Standards

The authors declare that they have no

conflict of interest. This article does not

contain any studies involving animals or

human participants performed by any of the

authors

Author contributions

PN: did experiment work

ADS: manuscript Preparation and editing

Research & Reviews in Biotechnology & Biosciences ISSN No: 2321-8681

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),

REFERENCES

1. Cybulski, J.S., Clements, J., &Prakash, M.

(2014).Foldscope :origami-based paper

microscope. Public Library Of Science ONE,

9(6) :e98781.

2. He, M., Zhu, C., Dong, K., Zhang, T., Cheng,

Z., Li, J., &Yan, Y. (2015). Comparative

proteome analysis of embryo and endosperm

reveals central differential expression

proteins involved in wheat seed germination.

BMC Plant Biology, 2015, 15,97.

Research & Reviews in Biotechnology & Biosciences ISSN No: 2321-8681

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),

Micro-morphological diversity of rice (Oryza sativa L.) as seen under foldscope

Article

Full-text available

May 2022

Rice being the global grain, its genetic diversity is essential to support farmers' adaptation to climate change for sustainable production. Genetic variability analysis is essential to identify the diverse genotypes and to use them in hybridization programs. Although several advanced molecular techniques are now being used to characterize plants, morphological characterization is always preferred owing to their ease of detection. However, not all morphological traits can be observed through naked eyes. Observing micro-morphological variations requires the help of specialized optical instruments. "Foldscope" is a simple and portable optical instrument, which offers a great opportunity to exploit micro-morphological variations in crop plants. Hence, the current study was aimed at the micro-morphological characterization of rice crop using a foldscope. A total of 24 elite rice genotypes including checks were evaluated using Randomized Complete Block Design during Kharif 2018 at Agricultural Research Station Gangavati, to explore their genetic diversity. Five often neglected micro-morphological traits but associated with the traits of economic importance were recorded using 'foldscope' to assess the variability existing among the selected genotypes. The analysis of variance revealed substantial variations across all genotypes for all the characteristics investigated. The traits viz., length of leaf serrations, length of hairs on the lemma, and root hair length exhibited higher GCV, PCV, heritability, and GAM most likely because of additive gene effects. So, selection for these traits may be effective. The study also showed that foldscope can be effectively used in agriculture to study micro-morphological diversity between crop genotypes.

FOLIAR MICROMORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF OXALIS CORNICULATA L. USING FOLDSCOPE

Chapter

Full-text available

Nov 2019

A frugal method (use of Foldscope) was used to study the foliar micromorphological characteristics of Oxalis corniculata L. using foldscope in the present research. The results revealed the presence of hypostomatic, paracytic, anisocytic and anomocytic types of stomata. Stomatal density and index were observed as 71.8 and 31.5 respectively. The venation pattern was reticulate and the density of vein islets and veinlet terminations were found as 23.8 and 6.4. Glandular and non-glandular trichomes were detected on the abaxial surface of O. corniculata. Glandular trichomes were slender with gland tipped, but non-glandular trichomes were uniseriate, unicellular and in abundance. Calcium oxalate crystals were abundantly present all along the veins. This is the foremost micromorphological study of the leaves of O. corniculata using the Foldscope.

Foldscope and its applications https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338884371_Foldscope_and_its_Applications#fullTextFileContent

Chapter

Full-text available

May 2021

Anupma Harshal

As the human impacts on our planet continue apace, the need to increase the scale and frequency of observation of the biodiversity of natural ecosystems to support their wise use is needed. Taxonomic identification that includes morphological and molecular markers is the most common analytical tool used. We report here the use of the Foldscope as a tool to characterise the morphological markers in indigenous species that are used in medicine. Microscopic examinations of the plant samples (root, stem, leaves and other parts) texture, shape and morphology were considered. The cell phone that can be attached to it allowed for a lot of post image processing to magnify and improve the image. The photographs of the same have been documented and submitted as a report to the Ministry of Science and Technology. 5 genes from one of the sample J have been sequenced and the data for the same has been dully submitted to NCBI, other samples are being analysed to facilitate identification. The objective of the project was to develop a systematic method for identification using molecular markers, (sequencing nuclear and chloroplast DNA markers) generating a DNA Barcode together with a morphological examination using the Foldscope

Foldscope and its Applications

Book

Dec 2019

A Foldscope, a low-cost science tool, is an optical microscope that can be assembled from simple components, including a sheet of paper and a lens. It was developed by Dr. Manu Prakash and designed to cost less than US$1 to build. It is part of the "frugal science" movement which aims to make cheap and easy tools available for scientific use in the developing world. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India and the Prakash Lab at Stanford University, USA signed an agreement to bring the Foldscope to India to encourage curiosity in science. It is being used as a teaching tool for the students in biology, chemistry, physics and many other streams. Keeping these facts in the background, the editors and authors of the book have tried to compile their research and review outlook about Foldscope usage and its various applications. The aim of this book is to facilitate the adoption of Foldscope as an educational and research tool by students, teachers, scholars, scientists and the general people. Many authors who are also Project Investigators and recipients of the Foldscope research grant acknowledge Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. The authors hope that this book will not only provide pleasant reading but also practical knowledge which can be utilized by the user of this book in the area of Foldscope microscopy.

Foldscope and its Applications

Book

Full-text available

Jan 2020

Arun Dev Sharma

“Foldscope and its applications, is an extensive, holistic and pioneering resource that presents a comprehensive understanding of a low-cost science tool, an optical microscope (foldscope), that can be assembled from simple components, including a sheet of paper and a lens. It highlights how foldscope can be used in basic sciences. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India and the Prakash Lab at Stanford University, USA signed an agreement to bring the Foldscope to India to encourage curiosity in science. It will be used as a teaching tool for students in biology, chemistry and physics. Keeping theses facts in background, Editors and Authors have tried to compile a comprehensive research and review outlook of foldscope. The aim of this book is to facilitate the adoption of foldscope as an educational and research tool by students, scholars, scientist and citizens of India. The authors hope that this book shall not only provide pleasant reading but also practical knowledge which can be used by the purchaser of this book in area of foldscope microscopy. Editorial board of this book express deep sense of gratitude to DBT, (Dept of Biotechnology) Govt. of India for sanctioning foldscope based projects to PIs across India

Comparative proteome analysis of embryo and endosperm reveals central differential expression proteins involved in wheat seed germination

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2015
BMC PLANT BIOL

Wheat seeds provide a staple food and an important protein source for the world's population. Seed germination is vital to wheat growth and development and directly affects grain yield and quality. In this study, we performed the first comparative proteomic analysis of wheat embryo and endosperm during seed germination. The proteomic changes in embryo and endosperm during the four different seed germination stages of elite Chinese bread wheat cultivar Zhengmai 9023 were first investigated. In total, 74 and 34 differentially expressed protein (DEP) spots representing 63 and 26 unique proteins were identified in embryo and endosperm, respectively. Eight common DEP were present in both tissues, and 55 and 18 DEP were specific to embryo and endosperm, respectively. These identified DEP spots could be sorted into 13 functional groups, in which the main group was involved in different metabolism pathways, particularly in the reserves necessary for mobilization in preparation for seed germination. The DEPs from the embryo were mainly related to carbohydrate metabolism, proteometabolism, amino acid metabolism, nucleic acid metabolism, and stress-related proteins, whereas those from the endosperm were mainly involved in protein storage, carbohydrate metabolism, inhibitors, stress response, and protein synthesis. During seed germination, both embryo and endosperm had a basic pattern of oxygen consumption, so the proteins related to respiration and energy metabolism were up-regulated or down-regulated along with respiration of wheat seeds. When germination was complete, most storage proteins from the endosperm began to be mobilized, but only a small amount was degraded during germination. Transcription expression of six representative DEP genes at the mRNA level was consistent with their protein expression changes. Wheat seed germination is a complex process with imbibition, stirring, and germination stages, which involve a series of physiological, morphological, and proteomic changes. The first process is a rapid water uptake, in which the seed coat becomes softer and the physical state of storage materials change gradually. Then the germinated seed enters the second process (a plateau phase) and the third process (the embryonic axes elongation). Seed embryo and endosperm display distinct differentially expressed proteins, and their synergistic expression mechanisms provide a basis for the normal germination of wheat seeds.

Foldscope: Origami-Based Paper Microscope

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2014
PLOS ONE

Here we describe an ultra-low-cost origami-based approach for large-scale manufacturing of microscopes, specifically demonstrating brightfield, darkfield, and fluorescence microscopes. Merging principles of optical design with origami enables high-volume fabrication of microscopes from 2D media. Flexure mechanisms created via folding enable a flat compact design. Structural loops in folded paper provide kinematic constraints as a means for passive self-alignment. This light, rugged instrument can survive harsh field conditions while providing a diversity of imaging capabilities, thus serving wide-ranging applications for cost-effective, portable microscopes in science and education.

Foldscope: An Efficient Tool for Quality Analysis of Seeds and Grains for Farmers

Abstract

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