DEVELOPMENT OF QUALITY EVALUATION SYSTEM FOR PEANUT WITH POD USING OPTICAL METHODS

Optical methods were developed to examine their feasibility for quality evaluation of peanut with pod. Surface color and internal quality of peanut were measured without contact. The surface color of peanut was measured by light reflectance at a region of visible wavelengths. Its characteristic was high correlated with a visual grading of peanut. A trial machine for the color grading of peanut was developed using an optical sensor and it was considered to compare with the visual grading. The spectral reflectance at a region of near infrared wavelengths from 1,200 to 2,500nm was measured , and the chemical components of peanut were related to spectral reflectance at special wavelengths. The protein, fat and moisture contents of peanut were estimated by the near infrared methods. An infrared imaging method was developed to evaluate the internal quality of peanut with pod. As thermal characteristic of peanut with pod was deeply related to internal quality , the quality of peanut can be evaluated by temperature changes on the surface of peanut. Measurement of surface color, near infrared reflectance and thermal imaging were shown to be very effective in grading of peanut with pod.