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  • Spectral analysis, biocompounds, and physiological assessment of Cork Oak leaves: unveiling the interaction with Phytophthora cinnamomi and beyond
    Publication . Guerra, Rui; Pires, Rosa; Brazio, António; Cavaco, Ana Margarida; Schütz, Gabriela; Coelho, Ana Cristina
    The cork oak tree (Quercus suber L.) symbolizes the Montado landscape in Portugal and is a central element in the country’s social and economic history. In recent decades, the loss of thousands of cork oaks has been reported, revealing the ongoing decline of these agroforestry ecosystems. This emblematic tree of the Mediterranean Basin is host to the soil-born root pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi, an active cork oak decline driver. In this framework, the early diagnosis of trees infected by the oomycete by non-invasive methods should contribute to the sustainable management of cork oak ecosystems, which motivated this work. Gas exchange and visible/near-infrared (400–1100 nm) reflectance spectroscopy measurements were conducted on leaves of both control and P. cinnamomi inoculated plants. These measurements were taken at 63, 78, 91, 126, and 248 days after inoculation. Additionally, at the end of the experiment, biochemical assays of pigments, sugars, and starch were performed. The spectroscopic measurements proved effective in distinguishing between control and inoculated plants, while the standard gas exchange and biochemistry data did not exhibit clear differences between the groups. The spectral data were examined both daily and globally, utilizing the PARAFAC method applied to a three-way array of samples × wavelengths × days. The separation of the two plant groups was attributed to variations in water content (4v (OH)); shifts in the spectra red edge; and structural modifications in the epidermal layer and leaves’ mesophyll. These spectral signatures can assist in the field identification of cork oaks that are interacting with P. cinnamomi.
  • A TSS classification study of 'Rocha' pear (Pyrus communis L.) based on non-invasive visible/near infra-red reflectance spectra
    Publication . Bexiga, Florentino; Rodrigues, Daniela; Guerra, Rui Manuel Farinha das Neves; Brazio, António; Balegas, Tiago; Cavaco, A. M.; Antunes, Maria Dulce; Valente de Oliveira, JOSÉ
    The study focuses on the application of machine learning techniques for classifying the internal quality of 'Rocha' Pear (Pyrus communis L.), i.e., the total soluble solids (TSS), using the non-invasive technique of visible/near infra-red reflectance spectroscopy. Six representative classifiers were evaluated under realistic experimental conditions. The classifiers include representatives of classic parametric (logistic and multiple linear regression), non-parametric distance based methods (K-nearest neighbors), correlation-based (partial least squares), ensemble methods (random forests) and maximum margin classifiers (support vector machines). The classifiers were assessed against metrics such as accuracy, Cohen's Kappa, F-Measure, and the area under the precision recall curve (AUC) in a 10 x 10-fold cross-validation plan. For result analysis non-parametric statistical test of hypotheses were employed. A total of 4880 fruit samples from different origins, maturation states, and harvest years were considered. The main conclusion is that the maximum margin classifier outperforms all the others studied ones, including the commonly used partial least squares. The conclusion holds for both a reflectance spectrum with 1024 features and for a 128 subsample of these. An estimate of the out-of-sample performance for the best classifier is also provided.
  • Spatiotemporal modelling of the quality and ripening of two cultivars of "Algarve Citrus" orchards at different edaphoclimatic conditions
    Publication . Cavaco, Ana M.; Cruz, Sandra P.; Antunes, M. Dulce; Guerra, Rui; Pires, Rosa; Afonso, Andreia M.; Brazio, António; Silva, Leonardo; Lucas, Marcia Rosendo; Daniel, Mariana; Panagopoulos, Thomas
    Algarve Citrus are non-climacteric Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) commodities. They are harvested with minimal levels of juice content (>35 %), soluble solids content (SSC) (>10 %) and maturation index (MI) (>8), as required by the respective PGI normative reference. These internal quality attributes (IQA) are usually determined in small samples of fruit collected from the orchards close to harvest. This study aimed to use geostatistics to help predict the optimal harvest date (OHD) of two sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) cultivars, namely, 'Newhall', and 'Valencia Late', at two different edaphoclimatic conditions observed in the locations of Quarteira, at the coast, and Paderne, near a mountainous area. Two orchards of 0.5-0.7 ha per cultivar were chosen and a total of 25 trees were georeferenced within each orchard, comprising 100 sampling points/trees. Firmness, juice content, SSC and MI of fruit were determined through time. In general, the fruit grown in Quarteira showed higher SSC and MI and lower firmness values, ripening two months earlier than those grown in Paderne, although the full effect of the various edaphoclimatic factors on these results are not fully understood. However, geospatial modelling of ripening has shown a large variability within the orchards, with some IQA evolution patterns observed in some orchards and/or cultivars but not in the others. Specifically, 1) a negative correlation between the firmness and MI spatial patterns; 2) a variable decay rate of firmness, much faster in Paderne for 'Valencia Late'; 3) local minima in juice content, below 35 %, observed in restricted spatial areas and in specific time periods, and which were clearer in 'Newhall'. These local variations highlight the need for an optimized management based on geospatial modelling. For example, the variable decay rate of firmness must be taken into account during fruit harvest and postharvest handling. On the other side, the observation of localized plots with juice content below 35 % must be contextualized in the broader picture of the entire orchard which, in the present study, always had consistent temporal average level above 35 %. This study has provided evidence that fruit ripening variability should be considered in the site-specific orchard management of citrus to optimize their harvest date.
  • Ripening assessment of ‘Ortanique’ (Citrus reticulata Blanco x Citrus sinensis (L) Osbeck) on tree by SW-NIR reflectance spectroscopy-based calibration models
    Publication . Pires, Rosa; Guerra, Rui Manuel Farinha das Neves; Cruz, Sandra; Antunes, MDC; Brazio, António; Afonso, Andreia M.; Daniel, Mariana; Panagopoulos, Thomas; Gonçalves, Isabel; Cavaco, Ana M.
    The aim of this study was the non-destructive assessment of ‘Ortanique’ (Citrus reticulata Blanco x Citrus sinensis (L) Osbeck) ripening, based on the prediction of internal quality attributes (IQA) by short-wave near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (SW-NIRS) calibration models. Spectra from fruit of 50 trees located in two different orchards, were acquired on tree using a customized portable visible near-infrared (vis-NIR) system. Partial least squares (PLS) was used to build the various IQA calibration models. The models were tested through internal validation (IV) and external validation (EV). Generally, the IV results were always superior to those of EV: regarding IV, a high regression coefficient (R2) and low root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) were achieved, revealing a good predictive performance for juice pH (R2 = 0.80; RMSEP = 0.10; SDR = 2.23), soluble solids content (SSC) (R2 = 0.79; RMSEP = 0.75 %; SDR = 2.27), titratable acidity (TA) (R2 = 0.73; RMSEP = 0.24 % citric acid; SDR = 1.94) and the maturation index (MI) (R2 = 0.80; RMSEP = 1.38; SDR = 2.2). The best EV predictions were obtained for TA (R2 = 0.69; RMSEP = 0.38 % citric acid; SDR = 1.24), and MI (R2 = 0.69; RMSEP = 2.07; SDR = 1.49). Calibration models for glucose, fructose and sucrose showed medium-coarse predictions for both validation strategies. A detailed investigation of MI models was performed, to understand the causes of their poor EV results. In the context of EV, model updating strategies were explored by using some validation samples to improve the calibration model. The methods of bias correction and spiking were tested, showing a clear improvement in the predictions.
  • Feature discovery in NIR spectroscopy based Rocha pear classification
    Publication . Daniel, Mariana; Guerra, Rui Manuel Farinha das Neves; Brazio, António; Rodrigues, Daniela; M. Cavaco, A.; Antunes, Maria Dulce; Valente de Oliveira, JOSÉ
    Non-invasive techniques for automatic fruit classification are gaining importance in the global agro-industry as they allow for optimizing harvesting, storage, management, and distribution decisions. Visible, near infra-red (NIR) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy is one of the most employed techniques in such fruit classification. Typically, after the acquisition of a fruit reflectance spectrum the wavelength domain signal is preprocessed and a classifier is designed. Up to now, little or no work considered the problem of feature generation and selection of the reflectance spectrum. This work aims at filling this gap, by exploiting a feature engineering phase before the classifier. The usual approach where the classifier is fed directly with the reflectances measured at each wavelength is contrasted with the proposed division of the spectra into bands and their characterization in wavelength, frequency, and wavelength-frequency domains. Feature selection is also applied for optimizing efficiency, predictive accuracy, and for mitigating over-training. A total of 3050 Rocha pear samples from different origins and harvest years are considered. Statistical tests of hypotheses on classification results of soluble solids content - a predictor of both fruit sweetness and ripeness - show that the proposed preliminary phase of feature engineering outperforms the usual direct approach both in terms of accuracy and in the number of necessary features. Moreover, the method allows for the identification of features that are physical chemistry meaningful.