Potential of VIS/NIR spectroscopy to detect and predict bitter pit in ‘Golden Smoothee’ apples

  • Estanis Torres IRTA Fruitcentre, Agri-food Science and Technology Park, Gardeny Park, Fruitcentre Building, 25003 Lleida http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6364-8918
  • Inmaculada Recasens University of Lleida, Dept. Horticulture, Botany and Gardening. Av. Rovira Roure 191, 25198 Lleida
  • Simó Alegre IRTA Fruitcentre, Agri-food Science and Technology Park, Gardeny Park, Fruitcentre Building, 25003 Lleida
Keywords: prediction of disorders, calcium disorders, multiclass classification, binary-class classification

Abstract

Aim of study: A portable VIS/NIR spectrometer and chemometric techniques were combined to identify bitter pit (BP) in Golden apples.

Area of study: Worldwide

Material and methods: Three different classification algorithms – linear discriminant analysis (LDA), quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) and support-vector machine (SVM) –were used in two experiments. In experiment #1, VIS/NIR measurements were carried out at postharvest on apples previously classified according to 3 classes (class 1: non-BP; class 2: slight symptoms; class 3: severe symptoms). In experiment #2, VIS/NIR measurements were carried out on healthy apples collected before harvest to determinate the capacity of the classification algorithms for detecting BP prior to the appearance of symptoms.

Main results: In the experiement #1, VIS/NIR spectroscopy showed great potential in pitted apples detection with visibly symptoms (accuracies of 75–81%). The linear classifier LDA performed better than the multivariate non-linear QDA and SVM classifiers in discriminating between healthy and bitter pitted apples. In the experiment #2, the accuracy to predict bitter pit prior to the appearance of visible symptoms decreased to 44–57%.

Research highlights: The identification of apples with bitter pit through VIS/NIR spectroscopy may be due to chlorophyll degradation and/or changes in intercellular water in fruit tissue.

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Published
2021-04-16
How to Cite
Torres, E., Recasens, I., & Alegre, S. (2021). Potential of VIS/NIR spectroscopy to detect and predict bitter pit in ‘Golden Smoothee’ apples. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 19(1), e1001. https://doi.org/10.5424/sjar/2021191-15656
Section
Plant protection