บทคัดย่องานวิจัย

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Predicting harvest labour allocation in bell pepper production

Tijskens L.M.M.; Lin W.C. and Schouten R.E.

5th International Postharvest Symposium . Volume of Abstract . Verona, Italy 6-11 June 2004

2004

บทคัดย่อ

Predicting harvest labour allocation in bell pepper production   In the production of bell peppers large fluctuations exist in number of fruits ready to pick. That makes it very difficult for growers to allocate sufficient labour force at a certain time in production.Both allocating too many and too few pickers will have financial consequences for the grower. The development of bell pepper ripening has been followed by colour imaging in the greenhouse. A commercial digital camera was used to record in time the development of colour for two cultivars (4 samplings in two seasons). The images were analysed by image processing to obtain the R, G and B values. The time to harvest was recorded for the same fruits. A model was developed to describe the colour development, expressed as R/G ratio, and to predict the optimal harvest date of the fruits.

By using a commercial digital camera under non-standardised conditions large variations will be introduced. Using a ratio of colour aspects reduces this variation. For o­ne cultivar, repeated data were recorded in time for the same individuals. Non linear regression analysis of these data resulted in an explained part of 95%

Assuming for the time being that the rate constant would be applicable to all cultivars and all growing season, the anticipated harvest time for the other 6 data sets was calculated, using these estimated parameter values. These data sets contained o­nly o­ne or a very limited number of measurements in time for individual fruits, and could therefore not be used to calibrate the exponential model. The difference between measured and estimated harvest time was 1 week or less for more than 80% of the measured individuals. In view of the assumptions used and the frequency of harvest time determination (1 week), this was rated as satisfactory.

Research is going o­n to validate the viewpoints.