DAFL: NEW INNOVATIVE DEVICE TO MONITOR FRUIT RIPENING IN STORAGE

The ripening stage reached by the fruits at harvest is linked to the fruit quality traits at consumption; it influences the postharvest management affecting storage length and fruit disease susceptibility. As a consequence, the knowledge of the ripening stage at harvest becomes essential, as well as the monitoring of the fruit ripening changes during cold storage. The index of absorbance difference (IAD) can follow the fruit ripening along the supply chain starting in the orchard, provided by the DA-Meter, a non-destructive device operating in VIS-NIR wavelenghts, and during cold storage, with the DAFL (difference absorbance fruit logger) that measures automatically the IAD at fixed intervals. The DAFL remote devices are positioned on a given number of fruits kept in cold storage and the IAD values are transmitted by radio to a server. The real time monitoring of these values gives indication on the management of the fruit as related to the ripening during storage.