Effects of storage temperature and time on internal quality of satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu marc.) by means of E-nose and E-tongue based on two-way MANOVA analysis and random forest

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of storage temperature and time on internal quality of Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.) by means of electronic nose (E-nose) and electronic tongue (E-tongue). The results obtained by two-way MANOVA analysis shows that 1) storage time and temperature did exist interaction effect on vitamin C and sugar/acid ratio, 2) no interaction was found on the content of total soluble solid, and 3) storage time showed no significant influence on the content of total acid. The fusion system, which was composed of signals from E-nose and E-tongue, based on random forest, predicted the internal quality parameters of mandarin fruits with fairly higher precision when compared with a single system. This work indicates that two-way MANOVA analysis might be employed to evaluate the loss of internal quality of fruits under different conditions, and the fusion system composed of E-nose and E-tongue can monitor mandarins at different storage conditions and predict internal quality changes successfully. Industrial relevance Storage conditions for fresh fruit have been widely investigated, including shelf-life, storage temperature, waxing, and so on. Storage factors, during fresh fruit transportation or marketing, should be considered together and their interactions are also important. In this study, two-way MANOVA was applied to analyze the influence caused by storage time and temperature and also their interaction on the quality parameters. This paper describes the possible application of E-nose and E-tongue to trace the quality status of satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.) during different storage conditions. This technique could be used as a rapid and objective method applicable to routine quality control at any stage of the fruit supply chain.