Bell Pepper Maturity Determination by Ultrasonic Techniques

Ignat, Timea and Mizrach, Amos and Schmilovitch, Ze’ev and Felföldi, József (2010) Bell Pepper Maturity Determination by Ultrasonic Techniques. Progress in Agricultural Engineering Sciences, 6 (1). pp. 17-34. ISSN 1786-335X

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Abstract

Ultrasonic wave attenuation within the flesh of intact greenhouse-grown pepper (Capsicum annum L.) fruits was measured during growth, to try to correlate this attenuation with quality-related physical properties: firmness, dry weight percentage (DW%) and total soluble solids (TSS) contents, and chemical composition. Twenty examples of each of three cultivars were picked weekly during a 7-week growth period, and weight, color, and ultrasonic wave attenuation were recorded, to nondestructively trace the changes during growth, and each intact pepper was then subjected to a relaxation test to determine firmness. Then, small samples of fruit flesh were destructively analyzed to determine DW% and TSS.During the 55th to the 65th day after flowering the fruits of all three cultivars reached their maximum weight, color started to change, and DW% and TSS started to increase rapidly; and the fruits were nondestructively examined by mechanical relaxation and ultrasonically. Principal component regression (PCR) analysis revealed significant (95%) correlation between ultrasonic attenuation, TSS and physical parameters. A TSS prediction model was developed for all three cultivars.

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