It is difficult to apply bioimpedance technique to discriminate plant tissues due to the large variability of Cole parameters. A novel electronic method for characterizing tissue of fruit or vegetable with discrimination capability is presented. A specially designed electrode-pair is used to measure the bioimpedance and Cole parameters are extracted. The relaxation time which is a fundamental property of a given tissue is then estimated and analysis of variance is performed to gain statistical relevance. Bioimpedance is measured for apple and potato tissues in the frequency range of 1 Hz to 1 MHz and rigorous data analyses are performed. With 99% confidence, it is shown than the relaxation time is independent of position of measurement and is specific for a given fruit or vegetable. Further, the tissues of different species of a given fruit (or vegetable) is shown to be discriminated statistically at the confidence level of 98%. An excellent correlation is shown between the bioimpedance parameters and the parameters of cellular structure. Experimental data shows that our technique can be generalized to distinguish unhealthy or treated fruits (or vegetables) and therefore bearing immense applicability in the characterization of plant tissue.
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