How to Ensure the Optimal Maturity of Apples and Pears?

The optimal maturity of fruits like apples and pears is crucial for preserving their quality, enhancing their flavor, and maximizing their long-term storage potential. Accurately measuring starch levels has emerged as a vital method for pinpointing the ideal harvest time and ensuring optimal storage conditions.

How Does Starch Analysis Work?

Starch breakdown into sugars serves as a key indicator of fruit maturity. A straightforward test using Lugol’s solution—iodine or potassium iodide—applied to the fruit's flesh reveals the starch distribution. As the starch degrades, sugars accumulate, enhancing flavor development and boosting post-harvest performance.

This method is especially critical for fruits like apples and pears, where the starch index directly correlates with their final quality. Despite its importance, achieving fast, accurate, and reliable measurements across large sample sizes has traditionally posed a challenge for producers.

AMILON: Precision and Efficiency in Automated Starch Analysis

To overcome the challenges of traditional starch measurement, Isolcell introduces AMILON, an innovative and efficient solution. This advanced automatic meter evaluates the starch levels in fruits with unparalleled precision. After treating an equatorial slice of the fruit with iodine solution, AMILON captures a high-resolution image and employs specialized software to analyze the sample and calculate starch levels.

Key Advantages of AMILON

• Objective and reproducible measurements: Eliminates errors associated with subjective visual interpretations.
• Fast and efficient: Processes up to 12 fruit samples in just a few seconds.
• Scalable and adaptable: Works seamlessly with all apple and pear varieties without requiring additional configuration.
• Data digitalization: Automatically stores results in digital format, enhancing traceability and simplifying data management.

AMILON can display starch values using standardized international scales, such as 1 to 10, 1 to 5, or even more detailed gradations, tailored to the producer’s specific requirements.

With its combination of speed, accuracy, and adaptability, AMILON sets a new standard in starch analysis, helping producers meet the highest quality standards with ease.

Innovation in the Service of Agriculture

In today’s fast-paced harvest season, where speed and accuracy are paramount, AMILON stands out as an essential tool for farmers and technicians. Its capability to provide rapid, consistent, and highly reliable measurements ensures that every batch of fruit achieves the highest quality standards.

Are you ready to elevate your fruit maturity assessment with cutting-edge technology? Explore how Isolcell can revolutionize your harvest and storage processes!