A priority issue facing stone and pome fruit is the lack of consistency in fruit quality causing consumer dissatisfaction and reducing repurchase. Using the innovative difference of absorbance (DA) meter to measure maturity of fruit at harvest and in packinghouses ensures quality is consistent for the markets it reaches.
Usually, high technical skill is required to manipulate data from the DA-meter in Excel to produce fruit maturity prediction graphs. This project developed software for producers to easily access maturity data from the DA-meter and overcome this problem.
The manufacturer of the DA technology does not provide standard software to access and manipulate data from the DA-meter requiring operators (growers and researchers) to use laborious procedures in Excel. This is an important barrier preventing the uptake of the DA technology, which would benefit the industry if growers could easily use it.
This project aimed to develop software that will assist in removing this barrier to adoption and encourage a greater number of producers to adopt the technology rather than just the few initial innovative adopters.
Presentation: About the DA Software This PDF opens in a new window (Note: this document does not meet WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines) or download the PowerPoint Presentation: About the DA software
Software
Software producing DA meter graph
The software was developed by Instrument and Data Tools (IDTools) Pty Ltd, with funding from the Horticulture Innovation fund and support from Summerfruit Australia Limited. It consists of user-friendly interfaces for the download and management of the maturity data recorded by the DA-meter.
An extension package was developed, containing online tutorial videos on how to use the software. It includes the software, tutorial handbook and tutorial video and they have been uploaded onto the HIN website
This complements the existing extension material on how to use the DA-meter and understanding DA graphs.
Difference of Absorbance (DA) Meter