A Novel Hyperspectral Method to Detect Moldy Core in Apple Fruits.

Abstract

An innovative low-cost device based on hyperspectral spectroscopy in the near infrared (NIR) spectral region is proposed for the non-invasive detection of moldy core (MC) in apples. The system, based on light collection by an integrating sphere, was tested on 70 apples cultivar (cv) Golden Delicious infected by Alternaria alternata , one of the main pathogens responsible for MC disease. Apples were sampled in vertical and horizontal positions during five measurement rounds in 13 days' time, and 700 spectral signatures were collected. Spectral correlation together with transmittance temporal patterns and ANOVA showed that the spectral region from 863.38 to 877.69 nm was most linked to MC presence. Then, two binary classification models based on Artificial Neural Network Pattern Recognition (ANN-AP) and Bagging Classifier (BC) with decision trees were developed, revealing a better detection capability by ANN-AP, especially in the early stage of infection, where the predictive accuracy was 100% at round 1 and 97.15% at round 2. In subsequent rounds, the classification results were similar in ANN-AP and BC models. The system proposed surpassed previous MC detection methods, needing only one measurement per fruit, while further research is needed to extend it to different cultivars or fruits.

Plant phenotyping relevance

リンゴ果実の病害状態を非破壊・ハイパースペクトル計測で検出する装置と分類手法を開発・評価しており、植物フェノタイプ取得が研究の中心である。

Code and data availability

The article describes a hyperspectral transmittance experiment on apples (700 spectra, RGB images, machine learning classifiers), but no public dataset, image repository, code, or model deposit is mentioned. The Data Availability Statement reads 'Not applicable.', and the only URLs in the text are the CC-BY license and

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