Relationship of impact transmission wave to apple texture during ripening

Impact transmission wave measurement technique was applied for nondestructive ripeness evaluation of Golden apples. Three types of texture properties referred to as firmness parameters, viscoelastic parameters and rupture parameter were measured fi om destructive penetration tests to represent apple ripeness. Curve-fitted model functions of transmission velocity and time span were established to evaluate the texture properties with the correlation coefficients between 0.791 and 0.957. The transmission wave parameters were used to discriminate six groups of the apples for their ripeness. A discrimination accuracy of 86.7% was obtained. It was concluded that the transmission wave may be used as a nondestructive means for reliable estimation and discrimination of apple ripeness.