Abstract
Lycopene is one of the most important functional components produced in tomatoes. Traditional methods for determining lycopene content usually rely on destructive sampling followed by chemical analysis. This report introduces the use of a smart device camera combined with a new Android application as a novel, rapid, and nondestructive method for determining tomato lycopene content and fruit grade. We first measured chromaticity values and lycopene content in 60 tomato fruits to develop an effective predictive model for lycopene estimation. Second, a method based on color differences between test fruit and several standard colors was designed as a color classification algorithm for fruit grading. Third, an Android application for lycopene estimation and fruit grading was developed. Finally, application functionality was evaluated using an Android 4.2.2 tablet. The results demonstrated that this new approach was functional and its ability to estimate lycopene content and fruit grade was satisfactory.
Highlights
Tomatoes are one of the most popular and important vegetables for human consumption worldwide
This study used a smart device camera for lycopene content estimation and fruit grading in tomatoes
We first developed several lycopene estimation models based on chromaticity values and lycopene content obtained for individual tomato samples
Summary
Tomatoes are one of the most popular and important vegetables for human consumption worldwide. Can they be consumed either fresh or cooked but they provide nutrients such as potassium, carotenes, vitamins, and lycopene to consumer diets (Canene-Adams, Campbell, Zaripheh, Jeffery, & Erdman, 2005). Of the various functional compounds in tomatoes, lycopene is one of the most important because it can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (Chandrasekaran, 2012; Petr & Erdman, 2005; Rissanen, Voutilainen, Nyyssonen, & Salonon, 2002; Sesso, Liu, Gaziano, & Buring, 2003) and several forms of cancer (Chen et al, 2001; Giovannuccci, 1999; Kim & Kim, 2015; Kucuk et al, 2001). Lycopene content in tomato fruits can be variable, making it difficult to properly sort and grade tomatoes according to their nutritional quality and there is a demand for a method that can accurately determine lycopene content in individual tomato fruits (Clément, Bacon, Sirois, & Dorais, 2015; Ghatak et al, 2017)
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