Effects of Morphological and Anatomical Characteristics of Banana Crown Vascular Bundles on Cutting Mechanical Properties Using Multiple Imaging Methods

Abstract

To obtain the appropriate mechanized cutting region for banana dehanding, the methods of X-ray Computed Tomography (CT), Paraffin-embedded tissue section, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were adopted to observe the morphological and anatomical characteristics of vascular bundles of the banana crown. The results indicated that the crown can be divided into three regions, viz., the central stalk–crown transition region (CSCTR), the crown expansion region (CER), and the crown–finger transition region (CFTR). According to the obtained characteristics, the cutting mechanical properties are found to be affected by the relative angle between the vascular bundle and cutter (RAVBC) and the vascular bundle density. In CSCTR, due to the opposite change of RAVBC and density, the cutting mechanical properties become unstable and the cutting energy decreases gradually from 4.30 J to 2.57 J. While in CER, the cutting mechanical properties tend to be stable, and the cutting energy varies in a small range (2.83–2.92 J), owing to the small changes of RAVBC and density. When the vascular bundles cross from the CER to CFTR, the cutting energy increases with the increase of RAVBC and density, which varies from 3.37 to 4.84 J. Accordingly, the appropriate cutting region for dehanding, which can reduce the energy consumption and improve the cutting efficiency, is ascertained to be between CSCTR and CER.