Methods, apparatus, and systems to extract and quantify minute objects from soil or feces, including plant-parasitic nematode pests and their eggs in soil

A method to automate extraction of objects of interest from a soil or feces sample comprising:

• a. preparing a diluted soil or feces sample containing objects of interest;
• b. conducting a first sieving on a first sieve for separating the objects of interest from larger particles in the soil or feces sample with automated washing action, wherein the first sieving comprises controlled movement of the first sieve in position relative to other components of the system or relative to space generally;
• c. collecting the separated objects of interest on a second sieve;
• d. conducting a second sieving on the second sieve to influence releasing the objects of interest and passing them through the second sieve, wherein the second sieving comprises controlled movement of the second sieve both in position relative to other components of the system or relative to space generally;
• and
• e. collecting what is passed through the second sieve.

A system for extraction and quantification of pre-determined objects of interest in a soil or feces sample with automated steps comprising:

• a. an extraction station comprising:
• i. a motion-controlled sieve manipulator to position sieves of different screen sizes relative to one another for at least one sieving action on the soil or feces sample to separate and extract the objects of interest from the remainder of the soil or feces sample;
• ii. a collection container for receiving the extracted objects of interest;
• b. a quantification station for quantifying the extracted objects of interest comprising:
• i. an imaging location adapted to present the extracted objects of interest for imaging;
• ii. an image recognition or reconstruction sub-system having a field of view including the imaging location and pattern recognition software programmed with pattern-recognition parameters correlated to the objects of interest;
• wherein the image recognition or reconstruction subsystem comprises:
• a. a lens-free photodetector array sensor for video imaging;
• b. a microfluidic subsystem to flow extracted objects of interest in solution past the imaging location of the lens-free photodetector array sensor to acquire video of the flow
• c. software to;
• i. select two frames of video;
• ii. run image reconstruction on each of the frames;
• iii. run pattern recognition on each reconstruction;
• iv. increment a counter for each pattern recognition indicative of an object-of interest, and
• v. provide a final cumulative count;
• and
• c. a programmable controller for instructing motion control in the extraction station;
• d. so that one or more of the following can be conducted on a soil or feces sample:
• i. objects of interest are automatically extracted from the soil or feces sample;
• and
• ii. extracted objects of interest are automatically counted by pattern recognition.