Measurement of volume of macaw palm fruit using traditional and the digital Moiré techniques

Abstract

The macaw palm crop has been studied because of its bioenergy potential due to the high oil yield, which is linked to fruit maturity stage. Digital images have been adopted as a contactless way to obtain information about fruit surface area and volume, acting as a sensor for quality control and the classification of fruits, based on physical aspects during the maturation stage. The aim of this study was to estimate the volume of macaw palm fruits from digital models obtained by the Moiré technique using only one camera, associated with digital image-processing tools to unwarp the images, allowing the comparison with conventional methods. The volumes obtained by the Moiré technique were compared with those obtained by water displacement method (WDM) and millet-seed displacement method (SDM). The results show that the volumes measured by the Moiré technique exhibited a mean error of 13.54% compared with the SDM, and 11.09% when compared to WDM, which indicates that the digital Moiré technique is a robust, low-cost tool to measure the volume of macaw palm fruits.