Non-Destructive Technique for Determining Mango Maturity

摘要

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is an important tropical fruit that has great udpotential in international markets. Currently, major markets for mango include North udAmerica, Europe, and Japan. The acceptance of exported mango in destination udcountries depends largely on eating quality, which is affected by maturity at harvest. udMango maturity can be judged visually, based on skin color, or determined chemically udbased on soluble solids content, acid content, and solids:acid ratio. Maturity deter-mination based on visual observation is unreliable and prone to errors. On the other udhand, determination based on sugar or soluble solids to acid ratio is destructive. udTherefore, it is important to develop a simple, reliable and non-destructive technique udfor mango maturity determination. In this study, a reliable and non-destructive udtechnique has been developed and tested. This technique uses a digital camera to udcapture an image of the mango skin. Images obtained were analyzed using an image udprocessing software (Adobe Photoshop) to obtain color parameters (L, a, b values). udEach of the color parameters was plotted against soluble solids content, total acid udcontent, and solids:acid ratio and curve fitting was then applied to obtain polynomial udequations. Results indicate that the color parameters can adequately predict the above udmaturity indices and, therefore, can be used to predict maturity of mango