Objective colour sensor to replace subjective pear colour charts

Colour charts are subjective and can lead to human misinterpretation.
The South African Unifruco Industry colour chart is out-dated and out-of-print.
Therefore, the pome industry requires an accurate and objective measure of fruit peel colour.
A possible affordable and portable alternative is the use of the Nix™ colour sensor.
A minimum of 150 images per Unifruco colour chart value of ‘Packham’s Triumph’ pears was taken.
Images was taken with a Nix™ Pro 2 colour sensor and a Konica Minolta CR-400 Chroma meter.
The Nix™ colour sensor and Konica Minolta Chroma meter did not differ significantly in the average of L*, a* and b* values (p value=0.8864). Chroma meter (L*, a* and b* values) against colour chart values resulted in a strong R-square value of 0.9568. The Nix™ colour sensor also resulted in a strong R-square value of 0.9436. Therefore, the Nix™ colour sensor has the potential to replace the out-of-print Unifruco industry colour chart.

XIV International Pear Symposium

J. Ladegourdie, D.W. Viljoen, I.J. Crouch

Unifruco, pears, peel colour, Konica Minolta chroma meter, Nix™

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1403.13