ARS | Publication request: Electronic nose for detecting strawberry fruit maturity

Submitted to: Florida State Horticultural Society Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: March 23, 2010
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Strawberry is one of the major fresh market commodities in Florida. Strawberry must be harvested at the proper time, to keep its fruit quality and shelf life. Generally, soluble solids concentration (SSC), titratable acidity and/or color are the major indices for fruity quality control. However, these indices can not guarantee the flavor quality, since fruit aroma is also one of the most important quality factors. Nondestructive and fast detection techniques to determine fruit aroma in a consistent and reproducible manner would benefit the fruit industry and consumer. In this study, an electronic nose (e-nose) composed of eighteen different metal oxide gas sensors was used to differentiate the volatiles of ‘Festival’ and ‘Radiance’ strawberry fruits at five different developmental stages including white, half red, three-quarter red, full ripe, and overripe. One hundred grams of strawberries were blended in a Waring blender. Three gram aliquots of puree were employed for headspace sampling in 10 mL vials, which were incubated at 40 °C for 2 min. Each sample was then analyzed by e-nose for 2 min with 18 min instrument recycling. Principal Component Analysis of sensor data could distinguish volatile profiles of strawberries from white to overripe fruit development stages regardless of cultivar. E-nose also detected volatile differences between ‘Festival’ and ‘Radiance’ strawberry cultivars at the identical stages of development.