Promising real-time fruit and vegetable quality detection technologies applicable to manipulator picking process

In recent years,worldwide research on fruit and vegetable quality detection technology includes machine vision,spectroscopy,acoustic vibration,tactile sensors,etc.These technologies have also been gradually applied to fruit and vegetable grading and sorting lines in recent years,greatly improving the income of farmers.There have been numerous reviews of these techniques.Most of the published research on fruit and vegetable quality detection technology is still carried out in the laboratory.The emphases have been on quality feature extraction,model establishment and experimental verification.The successful application in the fruit and vegetable sorting production line proves that these studies have high application potential and value,and we look forward to the performance of these sensing technologies in the fruit and vegetable picking field.Therefore,in this paper,based on the future highly automated fruit and vegetable picking mode,we will focus on three kinds of fruit and vegetable quality detection technologies including machine vision,tactile sensor and spectroscopy,to provide some reference for future research.Since there are currently limited cases of detecting quality during the fruit and vegetable picking,experiments performed on prototypes of manipulator,or devices such as Nanocilia sensors,portable spectrometers,etc.,which are compact and convenient to mount on manipulator will be reviewed.Several tables and mosaics showing the performance of the three technologies in the detection of fruit and vegetable quality over the past five years have been listed.The performance of each sensing technology was relatively satisfactory in the laboratory in general.However,in the picking scenario,there are still many challenges to be solved.Different from industrial environments,agricultural scenarios are complex and changeable.Fragile and vulnerable agricultural products pose another challenge.The development of portable devices and nanomaterials have become important breakthroughs.Optical and tactile detection methods,as well as the integration of different quality detection methods,are expected to be the trends of research and development.

Effect of N and K Fertilizers on Yield and Quality of Greenhouse Vegetable Crops

The application of large amounts of fertilizers, a conventional practice in northern China for the production of vegetable crops, generally leads to substantial accumulation of soil nutrients within a relatively short period of time. A fixed field experiment was designed to study the effects of nitrogen （N） and potassium （K） fertilizers applied to optimize the yield and quality of typical vegetable crops. Application of N and K fertilizers significantly increased the yields of kidney bean. The largest yields were obtained in the first and second years after application of 1 500 kg N and 300 kg K20 ha^-1. In the third year, however, there was a general decline in yields. Maximum yields occurred when intermediate rates of N and K （750 kg N and 300 kg K20 ha 1） were applied. However, no significant differences were observed in the concentrations of vitamin C （VC） in kidney bean among different years and various rates of fertilizer treatments. Yields of tomato grown in rotation after kidney bean showed significant responses to the application of N and K in the first year. In the second year, the yields of tomato were much lower. This suggested that the application of N fertilizer did not have any effect upon tomato yield, whereas application of K fertilizer did increase the yield. Application of K fertilizer was often associated with increased sugar concentrations.

Analysis and Evaluation of Heavy Metal Environmental Quality of Irrigation Water in Vegetable Farmlands of Shandong Province

[Objective] The aim was to evaluate heavy metal environmental quality of irrigation water in vegetable farmlands of Shandong Province. [Method] Heavy metal contents including Hg,Cd,As,Cr (+6),Pb,Cu and Zn in irrigation water of main vegetable farmlands of Shandong Province were investigated by randomly sampling,and the environmental quality conditions of these heavy metals were evaluated by methods of single quality index and complex quality index. [Result] The results showed that the average contents of heavy metals in irrigation water of Shouguang,Laiyang,Jinxiang and Zhangqiu were all far lower than the limit values prescribed by 'Farmland Environmental Quality Evaluation Standards for Edible Agricultural Products' (HJ332-2006),and no heavy metal was found beyond the limit value in every sample. The single quality indices of the 7 elements in the studied 4 places were all lower than 0.5. The comprehensive quality index of the seven elements was 0.317 8 in Shouguang,0.320 4 in Laiyang,0.232 6 in Jinxiang,and 0.260 7 in Zhangqiu. The environmental quality of irrigation water in the studied four places were all set at the first class. [Conclusion] The environmental quality of irrigation water in the 4 places belonged to clean level and were fit for the plantation of no pollution vegetables.

Effects of Amino Acid Foliar Fertilizer on the Yield and Quality of Different Vegetables

In order to explore the effects of amino acid foliar fertilizer on the yield and quality of different vegetables, we tested the spraying of an amino acid foliar fertilizer(Wanfeng 2) onto the leaves of cucumbers, eggplants and water spinach through contrast experiment in a greenhouse. The results showed that the yield increments of amino acid foliar fertilizer treatments in cucumbers, eggplants and water spinach were 11.57%, 4.43% and 12.41% respectively, and the output-input ratios were 64.52 ∶ 1, 53.31 ∶ 1 and 55.14 ∶ 1 respectively. Amino acid foliar fertilizer can influence the quality of greenhouse vegetables. The total sugar content of the cucumbers, eggplants, and water spinach significantly increased by 12.00%, 22.30%and 12.10% respectively. The vitamin C content increased by 4.76%, 24.80%, and10.90% respectively compared with the control. In conclusion, the spraying of amino acid foliar fertilizer could improve the yield and the nutritive quality of vegetables such as cucumbers, eggplants and water spinach.

Interactive effects of elevated carbon dioxide and nitrogen availability on fruit quality of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

Elevated CO2 and high N promote the yield of vegetables interactively, whilst their interactive effects on fruit quality of cucumber （Cucumis sativus L.） are unclear. We studied the effects of three CO2 concentrations （400 IJmOl mol^-1 （ambient）, 625 pmol mol^-1 （moderate） and 1 200 pmol mol^-1（high）） and nitrate levels （2 mmol L^-1 （low）, 7 mmol L^-1 （moderate） and 14 mmol L^-1 （high）） on fruit quality of cucumber in open top chambers. Compared with ambient CO2, high CO2 increased the concentrations of fructose and glucose in fruits and maintained the titratable acidity, resulting in the greater ratio of sugar to acid in moderate N, whilst it had no significant effects on these parameters in high N. Moderate and high CO2 had no significant effect on starch concentration and decreased dietary fiber concentration by 13 and 18%, nitrate by 31 and 84% and crude protein by 19 and 20% averagely, without interactions with N levels. The decreases in amino acids under high CO2 were similar, ranging from 10-18%, except for tyrosine （50%）. High CO2 also increased the concentrations of P, K, Ca and Mg but decreased the concentrations of Fe and Zn in low N, whilst high CO2 maintained the concentrations of P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn in moderate and high N. In conclusion, high CO2 and moderate N availability can be the best combination for improving the fruit quality of cucumber. The fruit enlargement, carbon transformation and N assimilation are probably the main processes affecting fruit quality under CO2 enrichment.

Effect of low-temperature plasma on the degradation of omethoate residue and quality of apple and spinach

Dielectric barrier corona discharge was developed to generate low-temperature plasma(LTP) to treat apple and spinach samples contaminated with omethoate. Experimental results showed that,after 20 min exposure, the degradation rate of omethoate residue in apple and spinach was(94.55± 0.01)% and(95.55 ± 0.01)%, respectively. When the treatment time was shorter than 20 min,the contents of moisture, vitamin C and beta-carotene were not affected by LTP. Exploration of related mechanisms suggested that LTP might destroy unsaturated double bonds of omethoate and produce phosphate ion, eventually leading to omethoate destruction. It is concluded that appropriate dosage of LTP can effectively degrade omethoate residue in fruits and vegetables without affecting their quality.

Influence of rangeland protection and seasonal grazing on aboveground vegetation,forage quality and weight gain of small ruminants–a study in Thar Desert,Pakistan

The Thar Desert,Sindh,Pakistan is characterized by low productivity.Besides,economy is based on agriculture,livestock and mining,nevertheless,livestock graze freely on public and private land.The aim of this research was to determine biomass production and to evaluate the effects of continuous and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected plots.A 45 ha protected rangeland area of Hurrabad in the Umerkot Thar desert was selected and divided into three blocks of 15 ha each.Blocks of the same size were also established in unprotected area.The data for vegetation biomass,canopy cover,forage nutrients and weight gain of animals in two seasons(spring and summer)was collected from both protected and unprotected sites.The results showed that biomass significantly increased in summer in both sites.However,the biomass values in protected sites were significantly higher.Similarly,the vegetation cover also seemed to increase in summer in both protected(90.7%±0.29%)and unprotected sites(39.2%±0.09%).The foliar concentrations of all nutrients varied significantly with season.The average final live-weight gain for does on the protected grazing sites during the 42-day period in spring and the 96 days after the monsoon was almost double that of does grazing on the unprotected site during 2016 and 2017(P<0.05).The study concludes that the protection of grazing lands during certain periods can lead to better production of vegetation and livestock and improve range conditions.

Spatio-temporal Variation of Vegetation Ecological Quality and Its Response to Climate Change in Rocky Desertification Areas in Southwest China during 2000–2020

Vegetation restoration is the primary task of ecological reconstruction and rocky desertification control in Karst areas. With vegetation net primary productivity and coverage as two key indicators, a vegetation ecological quality evaluation model was built based on meteorological and remote sensing data. Spatiotemporal variation of vegetation ecological quality index and its response to climate change in rocky desertification areas in Southwest China during 2000-2020 were also analyzed by using the difference method and linear trend method. The results showed that:(1) Vegetation ecological quality in rocky desertification areas in Southwest China showed a fluctuating upward trend during 2000-2020. In 2020, the vegetation ecological quality index reached 69.7, which was 19.9% and 9.3% higher than the averaged values for 2000 and 2000-2019, respectively, ranking the fourth highest since 2000.(2) Vegetation ecological quality of the rocky desertification areas in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou provinces have been improved by 89.2%, 99.2% and 98.5%, respectively, from 2000 to 2020, with their vegetation ecological quality index values increasing by 0.5-0.75 per year in southeast Yunnan, most areas in Guizhou and northwest Guangxi.(3) Precipitation was an important meteorological factor affecting the vegetation ecological quality in rocky desertification areas. The vegetation ecological quality index in the northwest and central Yunnan rocky desertification areas has been rising slowly, but with localized declines at a yearly rate of nearly 0.25 caused by climatic warming and drying.