Detecting water-soaked disorder and reddish-pulp disorder in peach fruit using bio-speckle

This study addresses the challenges in nondestructive identifying diseases, particularly water-soaked and reddish-pulp disorders, in peaches during storage and transport. Existing technologies have struggled to detect these diseases during this period, leading to potential food loss and consumer distrust. Biospeckle has emerged as a promising discriminator of the internal state of the fruit by utilizing laser-induced scattered light patterns. Pigment interference is minimized by employing lasers with wavelengths of 532 and 650 nm. This study focuses on the ability of biospeckle to distinguish between healthy and diseased fruit based on characteristic values, specifically the Fujii index and cumulative amplitude (Cum. amp.) at 2–3, 3–4, 4–5, and 6–7 Hz. The t-test results demonstrated significant differences in these values, particularly for water-soaked and reddish-pulp disorders. Biospeckle outperforms other non-destructive methods by identifying the symptoms pre-storage. These results indicate that Cum. amp. at 3–4, 4–5, and 6–7 Hz may be more useful in identifying water-soaked fruit than the Fujii index and Cum. amp. at 2–3 Hz. Red lasers are more effective in detecting reddish-pulp disorders than green lasers, which are hindered by pigment absorption. This finding highlights the potential of biospeckle in precise symptom identification, which is crucial for ensuring food quality and consumer confidence.