Decay Detection in Citrus Fruits Using Hyperspectral Computer Vision

Abstract

The citrus industry is nowadays an important part of the Spanish agricultural sector. One of the main problems present in the citrus industry is decay caused by Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum fungi. Early detection of decay produced by fungi in citrus is especially important for the citrus industry of distribution. This chapter presents a hyperspectral computer vision system and a set of machine learning techniques in order to detect decay caused by Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum fungi that produce more economic losses to the sector. More specifically, the authors employ a hyperspectral system and artificial neural networks. Nowadays, inspection and removal of damaged citrus is done manually by workers using dangerous ultraviolet light. The proposed system constitutes a feasible and implementable solution for the citrus industry; this has been proven by the fact that several machinery enterprises have shown their interest in the implementation and patent of the system.