Japanese strawberries are highly valued for their exceptional flavor, driving rapid growth in both domestic and export markets. However, because strawberries are extremely delicate and susceptible to damage from vibrations and temperature fluctuations during distribution, a simple, non-destructive firmness evaluation method is needed. To address this, we developed a portable fluorescence measurement system utilizing chlorophyll autofluorescence spectra and single-point measurement with a compact spectrometer and blue LED. The 61-g device enables field use, and linear regression of 700–840 nm fluorescence intensity achieved strong correlation with measured firmness (R = 0.90), demonstrating its effectiveness for postharvest quality evaluation.
Miyashita et al. (Thu,) studied this question.