Internal quality evaluation of chestnut using nuclear magnetic resonance

Abstract

Abstract This study was carried out to develop a prediction model for soluble solid content (SSC) of intact chestnut and to detect internal defects using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Inversion recovery and Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill (CPMG) pulse sequences used to determine the longitudinal (T1) and transverse (T2) relaxation times, respectively. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was adopted to predict SSCs of chestnuts with NMR data and histograms from MR images. The coefficient of determination (R 2), root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP), ratio of prediction to deviation (RPD), and the ratio of error range (RER) of the optimized model to predict SSC were 0.77, 1.41 °Brix, 1.86, and 11.31 with a validation set. Furthermore, an image-processing algorithm has been developed to detect internal defects such as decay, mold, and cavity using MR images. The classification applied with the developed image processing algorithm was over 94% accurate to classify. Based on the results obtained, it was determined that the NMR signal could be applied for grading several levels by SSC, and MRI could be used to evaluate the internal qualities of chestnuts.