AUTOMATIZAÇÃO DE SISTEMA PARA DETERMINAÇÃO DE FIRMEZA DE HORTALIÇAS FRUTO

Abstract

Among vegetables, tomato is considered the most important species from a commercial and social point of view, being cultivated all over the world. Flesh firmness is an important characteristic during transport and storage of fruits and vegetables. In the present study, tomato fruits were used as a model to validate the creation of on software developed in the research, which automates physical analyzes performed by human operators in an analogical way. This project was developed by the Information Technology System of the IF Goiano in partnership with the postgraduate course in Olericulture to determine fruit firmness digitally. In the initial phase of the study, 240 tomato fruits were used to determine pulp firmness. The fruits were separated into three lots according to their epidermis color: lot 1 - unripe fruits; batch 2 - orange fruits; batch 3 - red fruits. Each batch consisted of 80 fruits. For software validation purposes, freshly harvested fruits were quantified in terms of pulp firmness using the flattening method. Then they were submitted to the method developed in the present research that uses the Desktop platform with a common webcam, Python programming and software with a three-step cycle: input, processing and output of results. The FruitFirmness app has a high reliability of approximately 85%. The application developed in this project significantly improves the firmness determination process, making it practical, fast, easy and keeping the cost low. The software can be improved by becoming independent of the cell phone, using a camera, also, developing a system for data to be stored in a spreadsheet, becoming even more practical. The FruitFirmness software can now be used in the field by the producer.