title: A Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and Chemometric Approach to Improve Apple Fruit Quality Management: A Case Study on the Cultivars "Cripps Pink" and "Braeburn".
abstract: The potential of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in the wavelength range of 1000-2500 nm for predicting quality parameters such as total soluble solids (TSS), acidity (TA), firmness, and individual sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose, and xylose) for two cultivars of apples ("Braeburn" and "Cripps Pink") was studied during the pre- and post-storage periods. Simultaneously, a qualitative investigation on the capability of NIRS to discriminate varieties, harvest dates, storage periods and fruit inhomogeneity was carried out. In order to generate a sample set with high variability within the most relevant apple quality traits, three different harvest time points in combination with five different storage periods were chosen, and the evolution of important quality parameters was followed both with NIRS and wet chemical methods. By applying a principal component analysis (PCA) a differentiation between the two cultivars, freshly harvested vs. long-term stored apples and, notably, between the sun-exposed vs. shaded side of apples could be found. For the determination of quality parameters effective prediction models for titratable acid (TA) and individual sugars such as fructose, glucose and sucrose by using partial least square (PLS) regression have been developed. Our results complement earlier reports, highlighting the versatility of NIRS as a fast, non-invasive method for quantitative and qualitative studies on apples.
authors.affiliation: Laimburg Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Laimburg 6-Pfatten (Vadena), Auer (Ora) 39040, BZ, Italy. christian.w.huck@uibk.ac.at.|Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Radiochemistry, CCB-Center for Chemistry and Biomedicine, Leopold-Franzens University, Innrain 80-82, Innsbruck 6020, Austria. christian.w.huck@uibk.ac.at.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eisenstecken
authors.affiliation: Laimburg Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Laimburg 6-Pfatten (Vadena), Auer (Ora) 39040, BZ, Italy. alessia.panarese@provinz.bz.it.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Panarese
authors.affiliation: Laimburg Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Laimburg 6-Pfatten (Vadena), Auer (Ora) 39040, BZ, Italy. peter.robatscher@provinz.bz.it.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Robatscher
authors.affiliation: Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Radiochemistry, CCB-Center for Chemistry and Biomedicine, Leopold-Franzens University, Innrain 80-82, Innsbruck 6020, Austria. christian.w.huck@uibk.ac.at.
authors.forename: Christian W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Huck
authors.affiliation: Laimburg Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Laimburg 6-Pfatten (Vadena), Auer (Ora) 39040, BZ, Italy. angelo.zanella@provinz.bz.it.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zanella
authors.affiliation: Laimburg Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Laimburg 6-Pfatten (Vadena), Auer (Ora) 39040, BZ, Italy. Michael.Oberhuber@provinz.bz.it.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oberhuber
mesh_terms: D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D005638:Fruit; D027845:Malus; D011786:Quality Control; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared
keywords: Malus x domestica “Braeburn”; Malus x domestica “Cripps Pink”; NIRS; apples; firmness; internal quality; near infrared spectroscopy; sugars