Measurement of ripening speed and determination of the optimum ripeness of melons by a nondestructive acoustic vibration method.

摘要

The ripening speed of the melon cultivar 'Miyabi-Haruaki' was determined by monitoring its elasticity index (EI) with a nondestructive acoustic vibration method. EI was determined by the formula EI = f22 m2/3, where f2 is the second resonance frequency of a melon sample, and m is the mass of the sample. The speed of ripening, i.e., DeltaEI/day, was determined to be 0.36 x 104 kg2/3 Hz2 d-1, which was lower than the ripening speeds of previously studied melon cultivars 'Andes' and 'Quincy' (0.39 x 104 kg2/3 Hz2 d-1 and 0.50 x 104 kg2/3 Hz2 d-1, respectively). Using a sensory panel test, the period of optimum ripeness of the melons was determined to be 5.3-7.1 x 104 kg2/3 Hz2. Nondestructive determination of the period of optimum ripeness in terms of the EI can be useful for estimating the shelf-life of melons. In addition, by determining the ripening speed, the time required for a melon to reach optimum ripeness can be predicted