New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science
abstracts
Design and development of a new device for measuring susceptibility to impact
damage of fresh produce
Linus U. Opara
Ahmed Al-ghafri
Hisham Agzoun
Johka Al-issai
Fatma Al-jabri
Postharvest Technology Research Group
College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences
Sultan Qaboos University
P.O. Box 34, Al-Khod 123, Muscat
Sultanate of Oman
email: linus@squ.edu.om
Abstract Bruising is the most common type of mechanical
damage affecting fresh horticultural produce. Several mechanical devices have
been reported in the literature for assessing fruit susceptibility to bruising.
However, a major limitation of existing devices is the lack of objective measure
of the rebound height, which is required to determine the actual impact energy
absorbed during damage. In the present study, a new device was designed and
developed for objective determination of the rebound height during a pendulum
test for bruise susceptibility of whole produce specimens. Using a video camera
as an objective benchmark, the new device compared favourably better than subjective
visual assessment of the rebound height. The new device provides a simple and
cost-effective tool for fruit impact damage research and education.
Keywords fruit bruising; impact damage; bruise susceptibility;
simple pendulum; rebound height; energy absorbed; automatic measurement
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 2007, Vol. 35:
245–251
0014–0671/07/3502–0245 © The Royal
Society of New Zealand 2007
H06064; Online publication date 15 May 2007. Received 3 July 2006;
accepted 2 October 2006
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