Detection of moisture and carotenoid content in carrot slices during hot air drying based on multispectral imaging equipment with selected wavelengths

Abstract

Abstract Moisture content and carotenoid content are important indicators for evaluating the drying process of carrot slices. There are growing attention to develop non-destructive methods as effectively analytical tools in quality assurance of drying carrot slices. In this study, the characteristic wavelengths of moisture and carotenoid content in carrot slices during hot air drying were extracted based on hyperspectral imaging technology. A multispectral imaging equipment was built after that, and the wavelengths of filters were determined according to the characteristic wavelengths. Based on the successive projection algorithm (SPA), the optimal wavelengths of moisture and carotenoid content were further determined, and prediction models of both were established based on the system. There were 12 filters selected in this study. The results showed that a support vector machine (SVM) prediction model for moisture content was established based on seven optimal wavelengths with 0.991 for the coefficient of determination of prediction set (R 2 p ) and 10.318 for the residual prediction residual (RPD). Based on eight optimal wavelengths, a SVM prediction model for carotenoid content was also established with 0.968 for R 2 p and 5.337 for RPD. The prediction performance is close to or even better than that based on hyperspectral. The study confirmed the feasibility of using the multispectral imaging equipment to measure the moisture and carotenoid content of carrot slices during drying based on selected wavelengths, laying a foundation for the further preparation of a portable multispectral detector for the quality of dry products.