of maturity stages of oil palm fresh fruit bunches using multispectral imaging method

The determination of maturity stages of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) of oil palm is quite challenging as it depends very much on the competence of the human worker. The fruitlets at the bottom of each bunch are hardly visible or can only partially be seen, which results in high uncertainty. Therefore, study has been conducted to characterize maturity stages of FFB non-destructively and rapidly using multispectral camera. The chemical analyses were carried out on individual fruitlets (n=3) located at the top, middle and bottom of each bunch to make the total samples being equal to 18. Images were acquired using multispectral prism camera, producing five images in 5 wavelength ranges, i.e., red, green, blue, near-infrared (NIR) 1 (700-830 nm), and NIR 2 (830-1000 nm). The collected data were compared with the changes of chlorophyll and carotenoids extracted by means of Soxhlet method. Results indicated significant decrease of chlorophyll A and increase of red pigments from unripe to ripe FFB. Variation between FFB appeared enhanced compared to within bunch variability. Results revealed that multispectral imaging can be used to determine the maturity stages of FFB non-destructively.