Co-Authors:
Slaughter, D.C., Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, United States, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, O, University of California-Davis, ne Shields Ave., Davis, CA, United States
Ruiz-Altisent, M., Department of Rural Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Thompson, J.F., Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel
Chen, P., Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel
Sarig, Y., Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel
Anderson, M., Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel
Abstract:
A portable, handheld impact firmness sensor was designed for nondestructive measurement of fruit firmness while the fruit remain attached to the tree or for use in other remote locations where the use of a benchtop instrument would be impractical. The instrument design was based on the low-mass, constant velocity, impact-type measurement concept. Validation tests of the handheld sensor using 'Bartlett' pears from orchards in California and Washington showed excellent agreement (r 2 = 0.92 and 0.96, respectively) with both ASAE Standard method S368.2 for determining the apparent modulus of intact fruit and the impact firmness scores from a commercial benchtop impact firmness instrument. © 2009 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.