CARTILAGE AND BONE SEGMENTATION IN VERTEBRA IMAGES
Image–processing techniques had been successfully used for determination of beef maturity scores in a prior study. 
Automated segmentation of the cartilage and bone areas of the thoracic vertebrae was necessary to make the technique 
practical. Eighty–three beef carcasses were used for imaging the thoracic vertebrae. Color and spatial features were used 
for image segmentation. The hue value of the HSL color system was effective in segmenting cartilage areas, while the a* value 
of the CIELab system gave good results for the bone areas. After applying morphological operations on both cartilage and 
bone areas, geometric properties of these areas were used to give the final segmented object. The results of this work contribute 
to an automated beef maturity grading system.