Abstract

The economic importance of Papaya for fruit producers reinforces the idea of alternative (non-invasive and low cost) strategies to measure fruit ripening. In this work, it has been evaluated the kinetics of ripening degree of Papaya based on alternative and non-invasive electrical impedance method that is compared with conventional techniques (mechanical assays, determination of total soluble solids and titratable acidity). It was observed that a single point measurement of real part of impedance (1 MHz) returned relevant information concerning the kinetics of Papaya ripening. These results were in agreement with the firmness of fruit (mechanical assays) and the corresponding variation in total soluble solids, providing advantages for identification of ripening degree and depreciation of Papayas.

Keywords: electrical impedance, Papaya, ripening degree, bulky resistance