Prediction of Papaya fruit moisture content using hybrid GMDH - neural network modeling during thin layer drying process

In this work, a hybrid GMDH–neural network model was developed in order to predict the moisture content of papaya slices during hot air drying in a cabinet dryer. For this purpose, parameters including drying time, slices thickness and drying temperature were considered as the inputs and the amount of moisture ratio (MR) was estimated as the output. Exactly 50% of the data points were used for training and 50% for testing. In addition, four different mathematical models were fitted to the experimental data and compared with the GMDH model. The determination coefficient (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE) computed for the GMDH model were 0.9960 and 0.0220,and for the best mathematical model (Newton model) were 0.9954 and 0.0230, respectively. Thus, it was deduced that the estimation of moisture content of thin layer papaya fruit slices could be better modeled by a GMDH model than by the mathematical models.