Secondly over a period of nine days the firmness and dehydration of 75 navel oranges were measured and ultrasonic readings were taken.
A high level of correlation was found between the firmness of the oranges and the quantity of reflected energy.
The technique could be used to replace traditional destructive firmness testing techniques used in storage and distribution facilities to monitor fruit quality and ripeness.
developed technique could be applied to oranges pre-harvest allowing fruit maturity to be monitored and the optimal time for harvest to be determined.
the method can potentially be applied to other fruit where firmness and water content are primary indicators of quality.