Abstract
As non-climacteric, citrus fruit are only harvested at their optimal edible ripening stage. The usual approach followed by producers and packinghouses to establish the internal quality and ripening of citrus fruit is to collect fruit sets throughout ripening and use them to determine the quality attributes (QA) by standard and, in many cases, destructive and time-consuming methods. However, due to the large variability within and between orchards, the number of measured fruits is seldom statistically representative of the batch, resulting in a fallible assessment of their internal QA (IQA) and a weak traceability in the citrus supply chain. Visible/near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (Vis–NIRS) is a nondestructive method that addresses this problem, and has proved to predict many IQA of a wide number of fruit including citrus. Yet, its application on a daily basis is not straightforward, and there are still several questions to address by researchers in order to implement it routinely in the crop supply chain. This chapter reviews the application of Vis–NIRS in the assessment of the quality and ripening of citrus fruit, and makes a critical evaluation on the technique’s limiting issues that need further attention by researchers.
Highlights
Citrus fruit are grown commercially in more than 50 countries around the world and are major commodities in the international trade [1, 2]
The usefulness of Vis-NIRS combined with different chemometric techniques in the supply chain of citrus fruit is already quite extensive and growing, to many other commodities
In this chapter the authors only addressed the classic spectral ‘point’ measurements, but it is quite clear that both inline, benchtop and handheld devices are used to assess nondestructively multiple quality attributes (QA) in various citrus species and cultivars, with a clear predominance of orange and mandarin. There are both external quality attributes (EQA) and internal quality attributes (IQA), as well as defects caused by various factors, such as physiological disorders
Summary
Citrus fruit are grown commercially in more than 50 countries around the world and are major commodities in the international trade [1, 2]. The authors invite the reader to complement this chapter with some of the most outstanding reviews published throughout the years, by the main researchers working on the subject (but in citrus) These reviews comprise the principles of the technique, its various methods and the listing of fruit and the respective QA for which it has provided calibration models [41–45], the overview on the publications and main research groups in the field [40], various recommendations for future research activity in the area regarding the adequate experimental design and the reporting requirements [38], as well as the current real-life applications available on the market that seem to comply with the warranted robustness for the technology to be integrated in the supply chain of many crops, including citrus [38, 39]. The first Vis–NIRS application was commercialized in Japan in 1989 to sort peaches based on SSC in an automated grading line, but the research on its principles, applications and on the development of new customized systems, have only followed some decades later, being quite active nowadays [38–40]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
