Articles
Non-destructive detection of microstructure in pome fruit with X-ray dark field radiography
Article number
1396_23
Pages
169 – 178
Language
English
Abstract
Pome fruit are stored under controlled atmosphere conditions (CA) to provide a year-round high-quality supply.
Unfortunately, postharvest disorders related to microstructural changes regularly develop.
In this study, grating-based phase contrast X-ray imaging (GB-PCI) and X-ray micro-CT were used for the first time to collect dark field images and study the relationship with the fruit microstructure of Braeburn apples and Celina pears.
Healthy and disordered tissue from the same fruits stored in disorder inducing CA with elevated CO2 concentrations were sampled as well as healthy tissue from fruits stored in optimal CA. The apples stored in high CO2 all showed severe browning of the fruit flesh which reflected in collapsed cells and a flooded pore space.
For the pears, the disordered tissue visually appeared different as either more dry or wet which reflected in different microstructures.
Disordered apple tissue showed lower dark field signal compared to healthy tissue within the same apple.
Positive correlations of 0.59 and 0.56 were found with the apple tissue porosity and specific surface area (SSA) of the cell matrix, respectively.
For pear, the dark field signal did not differ between the sampling positions of the different tissue types.
The SSA of the cell matrix had a correlation coefficient 0.44. Therefore the SSA of the cell matrix was selected an important microstructural property related to X-ray small angle scattering in pome fruit tissue.
Unfortunately, postharvest disorders related to microstructural changes regularly develop.
In this study, grating-based phase contrast X-ray imaging (GB-PCI) and X-ray micro-CT were used for the first time to collect dark field images and study the relationship with the fruit microstructure of Braeburn apples and Celina pears.
Healthy and disordered tissue from the same fruits stored in disorder inducing CA with elevated CO2 concentrations were sampled as well as healthy tissue from fruits stored in optimal CA. The apples stored in high CO2 all showed severe browning of the fruit flesh which reflected in collapsed cells and a flooded pore space.
For the pears, the disordered tissue visually appeared different as either more dry or wet which reflected in different microstructures.
Disordered apple tissue showed lower dark field signal compared to healthy tissue within the same apple.
Positive correlations of 0.59 and 0.56 were found with the apple tissue porosity and specific surface area (SSA) of the cell matrix, respectively.
For pear, the dark field signal did not differ between the sampling positions of the different tissue types.
The SSA of the cell matrix had a correlation coefficient 0.44. Therefore the SSA of the cell matrix was selected an important microstructural property related to X-ray small angle scattering in pome fruit tissue.
Authors
L. Van Doorselaer, J. He, A. Tempelaere, J. Vignero, P. Verboven, H. Bosmans, B. Nicolaï
Keywords
X-ray imaging, dark field radiography, micro-CT, internal browning, postharvest, storage, controlled atmosphere
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