Electronic Nose as a Non-Destructive Tool to Evaluate the Fruit Ripeness and to Discriminate among Cultivars

The aim of this research was to evaluate the capability of a commercial electronic nose based on a 10 sensor-array (PEN2) to classify pome and stone fruits (apples and peaches) belonging to different cultivars and to monitor their ripening stage during shelf life from the day after harvest until fruits were senescent. The performance of the sensor-array was compared with the results of classical and non destructive techniques such as the evaluation of colour and ethylene production. The electronic nose data were analysed by PCA, LDA, and CART analysis, and were used to built a mathematical model for the evaluation of the ripening stage.