Development of predictive model to determine Quince fruit firmness using genetic programming and Neural Network during storage

Texture represents one of the four principal factors defining food/fruit quality, together with appearance, flavour and nutritional properties (Bourne, 2002), and plays a key role in consumer acceptability and recognition of quince. Textural characteristics of quinces defined by “crispness”, “juiciness”, “hardness”,“firmness” and “mealiness” are often key drivers of consumer preference. Many non-destructive methods, including image analysis, spectroscopy, ultrasound and sound techniques, have been developed to diagnose internal and external defects in fruits and vegetables. Cheng and Haugh (1994) used a frequency of 250-kHz, rather than 1-MHz, to detect hollow heart. They were not able to transmit successfully the ultrasound wave through the whole tuber using 1-MHz transducers but found the 250-kHz transducers to be practical for a transmission path length of up to 89.7 mm. In a research an acoustic setup was developed to simultaneously detect the resonant frequencies from equator and from calyx shoulder of pear. The researchers proposed index based on these two frequencies was used for firmness evaluation of non-spherical pear; Compared with two types of single frequency-based indices, the firmness sensitivity of the dual-frequency index is mostly close to that of MT penetration test. The firmness index can classify pears with a high total accuracy (93.4%), making it suitable for nondestructive detection of firmness of differently shaped pears (Zhang et al., 2018). The goal of this study was to develop a nondestructive method based on acoustic impulse response of quince fruit using genetic programming and artificial neural network during storage.

In the experiment 120 quince fruits (Cydonia oblonga) were harvested from a field near Isfahan 181 days after full flowering of the trees. For each cultivar, only samples of similar size and without visible external damage were chosen. The samples were packed in sterile nylon bags and stored at 4°C. Non-destructive test (acoustic response) as well as destructive test (chemical measurement and penetration test) were performed every 15 days for 4 months (Akbari Bisheh et al., 2014). Total soluble solids (TSS) were determined by a hand refractometer device (model: MT03 Japan) and expressed as °Brix. Ascorbic acid of the juice was measured by titration with copper sulfate and potassium iodide based on the Barakat et al. (1973) procedure. Titratable acidity was measured according to the AOAC method. To determine the total phenol content of juice, the Waterhouse method (2000) was used. Determination of the pH of the fruit extract using a pH meter (Portable Model P-755, Japan). Physical attributes of the samples including volume as well as major, minor, intermittent diameters and mass were calculated using the relations proposed by Stroshine and Hammand (1994). Penetration test was conducted by the material test machine (SANTAM, STM-20 model, Iran).In order to analyze the response sound signal of quince in time and frequency domain, a system equipped with a sample holder with foam rubber covered surface, an impact mechanism, a microphone and an electronic circuit was utilized. To record impact sound features a microphone was positioned next to the fruit and was hit at three speed level (0.3, 0.9 and 1.5 m/s). After recoding sound, five features (acoustic peak, maximum acoustic pressure, mean acoustic pressure and natural frequency) were extracted and used as inputs for models. In order to predict the stiffness, four methods of genetic programming, neural network and existing mathematical models (FI and SIQ-FT) were used. In order to carry out statistical analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan's multiple range test at 5% probability level were performed according to the completely randomized design (CRD).

In this study, Duncan's multiple range comparison test was used to investigate the significant difference between destructive and non-destructive parameters at 5% probability level. According to the results, acoustic peak, maximum acoustic pressure, mean acoustic pressure and natural frequency were decreased by increasing storage time. Statistical analysis of the destructive tests also showed a decreasing trend at the 5% level. In several papers, two mathematical equations have been used to obtain the relationship between the mass resonance frequency and the sound of impact. In this study, genetic programming and neural network modeling were used to compare the results of these relationships. The regression coefficients between the actual and the predicted values for the resonance-mass relation and the effect of the sound from the collision were R2= 0.601 and R2= 0.754, respectively. Also, the regression values obtained from genetic programming and neural network modeling were R2= 0.9567 and R2 = 0.933, respectively. In a research, the overall R2 value amounts for stiffness prediction was reported to be 0.79 (Schotte et al., 1999). Abbaszadeh et al. (2013) evaluated watermelons texture using their vibration responses. They declared their proposed method could predict textural acceptability of watermelons with determination coefficients 0.99. According to the obtained values, the best methods for stiffness prediction were genetic programming and f neural network methods, respectively.