title: FT-NIR spectroscopy for the quality characterization of apricots (Prunus armeniaca L.).
abstract: The nondestructive assessment of apricot fruit quality (Bora cultivar) was carried out by means of FT-NIR reflectance spectroscopy in the wavenumber range 12000 to 4000 cm⁻¹. Samples were harvested at four different ripening stages and scanned by a fiber optical probe immediately after harvesting and after a storage of 3 d (2 d at 4 °C and 1 d at 18 °C); the flesh firmness (FF), the soluble solids content (SSC), the acidity (A), and the titratable acidity (malic and citric acids) were then measured by destructive methods. Soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) analysis was used to classify spectra according to the ripening stage and the storage: partial least squares regression (PLS) models to predict FF, SSC, A, and the titratable acidity were also set-up for both just harvested and stored apricots. Spectral pretreatments and wavenumber selections were conducted on the basis of explorative principal component analysis (PCA). Apricot spectra were correctly classified in the right class with a mean classification rate of 87% (range: 80% to 100%). Test set validations of PLS models showed R2 values up to 0.620, 0.863, 0.842, and 0.369 for FF, SSC, A, and the titratable acidity, respectively. The best models were obtained for the SSC and A and are suitable for rough screening; a lower power prediction emerged for the other maturity indices and the relative predictive models are not recommended.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of the study could be used as a tool for the assessment of the ripening stage during the harvest and the quality during the postharvest storage of apricot fruits.
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Economics and Engineering Dept., Univ. of Bologna, Piazza G. Goidanich, 60-47023 Cesena (FC), Italy. annachi.berardinelli@unibo.it
authors.forename: Annachiara
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berardinelli
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cevoli
authors.forename: Florina Aurelia
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Silaghi
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fabbri
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ragni
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giunchi
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bassi
mesh_terms: D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D019343:Citric Acid / Q000032:analysis; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D005511:Food Handling; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000254:growth & development; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008293:Malates / Q000032:analysis; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D008954:Models, Biological; D027861:Prunus / Q000737:chemistry*; D011786:Quality Control; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D017186:Titrimetry
chemical_list: D008293:Malates; D019343:Citric Acid; C030298:malic acid