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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Hortic.
Sec. Postharvest Physiology, Management and Technology
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fhort.2024.1457362
This article is part of the Research Topic Sustainable Approaches to Food Loss and Waste Reduction in Smallholder Horticulture: from Proof of Concept to Scale View all 3 articles

Near-infrared Spectrometer for Rapid and Real-Time Prediction of Specific Quality Attributes in Intact Cactus Pear Fruits (Opuntia ficus-indica L.) RUNNING HEAD Non-Destructive Determination of Quality in Cactus Pear Fruit

Provisionally accepted
Willis Owino Willis Owino 1*Daisy Lanoi Daisy Lanoi 2Samuel Imathiu Samuel Imathiu 1Peter Kahenya Peter Kahenya 1Winnie Akinyi Nyonje Winnie Akinyi Nyonje 1Dennis Yegon Dennis Yegon 3
  • 1 School of Food and Nutrition Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya
  • 2 Dairy Research Institute -Naivasha, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
  • 3 The COBRA laboratory (Bioorganic Organic Chemistry: Reactivity and Analysis), Université de Rouen, Mont-Saint-Aignan, Upper Normandy, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Cactus pear fruits are rich sources of nutritional (essential vitamins, amino acids and minerals) and antioxidant compounds (flavonoids, carotenes, betalains, ascorbic acid and quercetin). The fruit is cultivated for fresh markets and also serves as nutraceutical and functional food, finding application in various forms such as juice, jam, wine, syrup and in dairy products. However, short postharvest life and negative perception has contributed to its underutilization in the local context.Total titratable acidity (TTA) and total soluble solids (TSS) are among the desirable attributes used to assess postharvest quality of Cactus pears. A portable near-infrared spectrometer (NIRS) can non-destructively determine the internal quality of Cactus pears' thus reducing postharvest losses.This study evaluated the potential of a handheld NIRS coupled with chemometrics of partial least square regression (PLSR) for rapid, non-destructive, and simultaneous determination of TTA and TSS in intact Cactus pear fruits. Cactus pears at different stages of maturity were sampled from Laikipia county, in Kenya, and immediately subjected to spectral data acquisition and wetchemistry analyses. The PLSR was used to train and validate predictive models for the determination of TTA and TSS content in intact Cactus pears. The prediction model for TTA gave an R-squared (R 2 ) of 0.73, root mean squared error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.28% citric acid, and residual predictive deviation (RPD) of 1.97. Additionally, the TSS model resulted in R2 of 0.75, RMSEP of 1.60° Brix, and RPD of 2.06. Overall, these findings highlight the effectiveness of NIRS in non-destructive measurement of TTA and TSS levels in whole Cactus pears. However, with further refinement and optimization of these models, the full potential of this technique for swift and precise assessment of these parameters in whole Cactus pears can be realized. This would greatly benefit farmers and processors by reducing expenses associated with quality assessment and facilitating market entry of Cactus pear derived food products.

    Keywords: chemometrics, Total titratable acidity (TTA), Total soluble solid (TSS), fruit maturity, Non-destructive Evaluation

    Received: 30 Jun 2024; Accepted: 18 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Owino, Lanoi, Imathiu, Kahenya, Nyonje and Yegon. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Willis Owino, School of Food and Nutrition Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.