• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.192-198
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• 2013

Purpose: Methods for non-destructive estimation of product quality have been reported in various industrial fields, but the application of ultrasonic techniques for the agricultural products of potatoes, pears, apples, watermelons, kiwis and tomatoes etc. have been rarely reported since the application of a contact-type ultrasonic transducer in agricultural products is very difficult. Therefore, this study sought to determine the firmness of apples using non-contact ultrasonic techniques. Methods: For this experiment, an ultrasonic experimental tester using a non-contact ultrasonic transducer was created, and a signal processing program was used to analyze the acquired ultrasonic reflected signal. Also, a universal testing machine was used to measure firmness parameters of the apples such as bioyield strength, a firmness factor, after the ultrasonic tests had been performed. Results: Six distance correction factors were calculated to obtain consistent values of ultrasonic properties regardless of the distance between the transducer and the surface of the subject. We developed prediction models of the bioyield strength using the distance correction factors. Conclusions: The optimum prediction model of the bioyield strength of apples using a non-contact ultrasonic technique was a multiple regression model ($R^2=0.9402$).

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.06d
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• pp.253-256
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• 2001

Characteristics of fruit vibrations are related to the material properties of the fruit. A new method for spectral analysis is developed and used for the non-destructive estimation of fruit firmness. The resonant frequency of the fruit is related to its firmness. However, the determination of the resonant frequency is not easy So the smoothing method is applied to the frequency spectra to obtain a robust estimate for the resonant frequency.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2002

Bread baking parameters and relationships between bread baking properties and flour characteristics were evaluated for two years, 1997 and 1998, and at two locations, Suwon and Deokso, with Korean winter wheat cultivars and lines. Among the bread baking parameters, lightness of crumb grain showed differences between years. No significant differences were found in dough mixing time, bread loaf volume, crumb grain score or firmness. Keumkangmil, Suwon 278 and Tapdongmil showed higher bread loaf volume, good structure of crumb grain and softer crumb firmness. However, compared to commercial flours for baking, cultivar means averaged over years and locations of nineteen Korean winter wheats showed poor bread baking quality because of low protein content and unsuitable protein quality. Protein content and flour swelling volume showed better relationships with the bread baking parameters than other flour characteristics. Friabilin-absence lines showed softer crumb firmness than those of friabilin-presence lines.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.265-274
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• 2014

Physiological characteristics of two Korean golden kiwifruit cultivars, 'Halla Gold' and 'Haehyang', were compared to determine the storage potential of fruit. The soluble solid levels of the fruit were 8.9 and 6.9 oBrix in 'Halla Gold' and 'Haehyang' at harvest, respectively but increased up to 15.4 in 'Halla Gold' and 17.5 oBrix in 'Haehyang' after 2 months of storage. Major sugars were fructose and glucose, and sucrose content was relatively low regardless of cultivar. The edible quality of 'Haehyang' was better than 'Halla Gold' because of higher amount of sugars. Firmness of the fruits gradually decreased as the increase of storage period in 'Halla Gold' in both flesh and core tissue. Th firmness loss of 'Haehyang' fruit was faster in the first 2 months and then became slow. After 75 days of storage, the firmness of 'Haehyang' fruit was only 5.2% at harvest. Core tissue was soften enough to eat at ripe stage. Wall modifying enzyme activities including xylanase, ${\alpha}$-L-arabinofuranosi-dase and ${\beta}$-galactosidase were consistently higher in 'Haehyang' and the activity of pectate lyase was more increased than 'Halla Gold' after 2 months of storage. Respiration rate of 'Haehyang' was higher than 'Halla Gold' and further increased after 2 months of storage. Weight loss was much higher in 'Haehyang' which showed higher rate of the firmness loss. The storage potential of golden kiwifruit was estimated to be about 2 months for 'Haehyang' and 3 months for 'Halla Gold' when determined on the basis of the fruit firmness.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.257-268
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• 2016

Physiological characteristics of five new apple cultivars from the Korean apple breeding program were evaluated as a function of harvest time and storage after harvest. Internal ethylene concentration (IEC), flesh firmness, soluble solids concentration (SSC), and titratable acidity (TA) were measured in 'Summer Dream', 'Summer King', 'Green Ball', 'Picnic', and 'Hwangok' apples at harvest, during shelf life at $20^{\circ}C$, and one day after cold storage at $0.5^{\circ}C$ in air. IEC increased during shelf life in 'Summer Dream', 'Summer King', and 'Green Ball' but not in 'Picnic' or 'Hwangok', regardless of harvest time. Flesh firmness decreased towards harvest time and decreased gradually with time in cold storage only in the former three cultivars. In turn, IEC increased during cold storage in the first three cultivars but not for the last two cultivars, irrespective of harvest time. Changes in SSC and TA did not consistently relate to harvest time or storage period but TA tended to decrease as IEC increased. Furthermore, IEC was negatively correlated with flesh firmness except in the 'Green Ball' cultivar but the significance level was much greater in 'Summer Dream' and 'Summer King' (p < 0.0001) than in 'Picnic' (p < 0.01) or 'Hwangok' (p < 0.05) cultivars. Flesh firmness was positively correlated with TA in the first three cultivars but not in the last two cultivars. Overall, the results indicate that cultivars for which IEC increased after harvest had reduced flesh firmness and TA after storage.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.181-186
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the weight loss, firmness, external color and vitamin C (VC) content of tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) using non-destructive method to measure identical tomato samples during 15 days storage at low temperature and high humidity. Tomatoes were harvested at the light red stage, sorted, box packed and then stored in thermo-hygrostat ($10{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, $90{\pm}10%RH$). The quality changes in weight loss, firmness and external color were measured every 3 day interval. Weight loss was increased by $1.13{\pm}0.15%$, but it may not be considered to affect quality. Surface color of fruit was changed, especially in lightness and hue angle value. The color values were analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the results were significant (p<0.001). Firmness of fruit declined during storage, but it did not decrease in direct proportion. On the storage of day 15, firmness was decreased to 40% of initial state. At last, all the experiment data are summarized and the relationship between firmness and weight loss is analyzed to construct a linear regression mathematical model that can predict the weight loss with the firmness value measured by non-destructive method. This research result could be useful in helping tomato exporters and suppliers to get real-time quality factor by using proposed method and regression model.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.209-216
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• 2010

In order to understand the effects of a single or combined treatments of 1-MCP($1{\mu}L/L$) and $CO_2$(100%) on the firmness of melting type peach fruit(cv. Chunjungdo), fruit were harvested at commercial maturity and examined physiological changes including flesh firmness during 10 days of shelf-life. Firmness loss of fruit was delayed by both single and combined treatments of 1-MCP and $CO_2$. The treatment of 1-MCP was more effective than $CO_2$ treatment but no additive effective on firmness retention was found in the combined treatment. The upsurge of ethylene evolution occurred 5 days of shelf-life in air treated control but ethylene evolution gradually increased in fruit treated by 1-MCP and 1-MCP+$CO_2$. The suppression of ethylene evolution seemed stronger in $CO_2$ treatment. The respiration of fruit significantly inhibited up to 10 days except control where climacteric increase of respiration was found at 10 days of shelf-life. A molecular shift of pectic polymers(an increase of chelator soluble pectins and decrease of water soluble pectins) was induced by both 1-MCP and $CO_2$ treatments. An increase of water soluble pectins was coincident with firmness loss. The delay of firmness loss seemed to be associated with the migration of calcium to wall matrix, especially pectins, resulting in the increase of wall bound calcium. The polygalacturonase activity was significantly reduced by 1-MCP alone 1 day after treatment and increased to similar level of activity 5 days after treatment compared to other treatment except air treated control whereas pectin methylesterase activity seemed not to be affected by both 1-MCP and $CO_2$ treatments. Thus, the molecular shift of pectic polymers appeared not to be related with pectin methylesterase. Further study is required to clarify the softening mechanism associated with molecular shift of pectic polymers and the inter- or intra-cellular movement of calcium ions induced by postharvest treatments of 1-MCP and $CO_2$.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to prevent excessive softening of seasoned spinach by heating and freezing through the pre-heating treatment in calcium chloride solution. The pre-heating temperature was set at 60℃, which supports the highest activity of pectinesterase around 60℃. Pre-heating spinach in calcium solution does not affect the chromaticity characteristics of spinach leaves and significantly improves its texture compared to conventional blanching only and pre-heating in water. The improvement of the firmness is related to the formation of strongly cross-linkages between carboxyl groups and Ca²⁺ by the action of the pectinesterase in spinach. For reheated spinach, the firmness of calcium chloride treated stems were 37.80~44.44 kg, and the control was 28.73 kg. The firmness of calcium chloride treated leaves was 19.73~40.79 kg, and the control was 9.63 kg. Additionally, the total aerobic bacteria in the fresh samples were 3.25~3.99 log CFU/g and 1.97~2.72 log CFU/g in the reheated samples. And the total coliform was not detected in the reheated samples. Considering the color, texture, microbial characteristics and taste quality, the optimum pre-treatment conditions to prevent excessive softening of spinach were 3% calcium chloride solution and 15minutes of treatment.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.189-196
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• 2010

This study was conducted to develop an non-contact ultrasonic transducer for measurement of fruit firmness. The center frequency of non-contact ultrasonic transducer was 500 kHz. As an active element of non-contact ultrasonic transducer, the 1-3 piezoelectric composite material was selected. That material has high piezoelectric properties such as electro-mechanical coupling factor, $k_t$ and piezoelectric voltage constant, $d_{33}$ and also that material has low acoustical impedance which enables to matching the acoustical impedances between piezoelectric material and air. As a front matching material between 1-3 piezoelectric composite material and air, various kinds of paper with different thickness were tested. To control the dead-zone of the fabricated non-contact ultrasonic transducer, the backing material composed of epoxy resin and tungsten powder were made and evaluated. The fabricated non-contact ultrasonic transducer for fruit showed that the cneter frequency, bandwidth and beamwidth were approximately 480 kHz, 30 % and 12 mm, respectively. It was concluded that non-contact measurement of apple firmness would be possible by using the fabricated non-contact ultrasonic transducer.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.158-161
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• 2012

The influence of lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE) on anti-senescence of melon leaves and the change in fruit quality during the storage at low temperature were studied. In most of the crops, freshness of leaves is important factor for characteristics of fruits, such as sugar contents, color, and firmness. Melon ($Cucumis$ $melo$ L. cv. Prince) plants were sprayed with LPE at 5 and 3 weeks before commercial harvest. In upper part, LPE treatment showed slight high number of fresh leaf compared to no treatment (None). However, in lower part, LPE resulted in apparent inhibition effect on senescence, showing that lower side of melon plant kept fresh upon LPE application up to about 30%. The SSC of melon treated with LPE was similar to that of fruit from None at harvest. There was no change in soluble solids content (SSC) for all treatment during the storage at $7^{\circ}C$. There were no significant differences in firmness of mesocarp from melons given different treatments at harvest. The firmness of mesocarp from melon treated with LPE was higher than none after 2 weeks storage. The electrolyte leakage means for melon treated with LPE did not differ significantly from the means at initial storage after 2 weeks storage among the treatments. None increased 57% from its initial electrolyte leakage during storage. These results suggest that the application of LPE may have potential to inhibit senescence of leaves and maintain fruit quality during the storage in melon.