Application of the biospeckle method for monitoring bull's eye rot development and quality changes of apples subjected to various storage methods-preliminary studies.

In this study, the biospeckle technique was evaluated for monitoring of apple bull's eye rot development and product quality in general, during storage under various conditions and during subsequent shelf life. This non-destructive optical method is based on the analysis of laser light variations scattered from the sample. Apples of the cultivars 'Pinova' and 'Topaz', susceptible to bull's eye rot, were used in two independent experiments. In the first, apples were non-destructively monitored for five months during cold storage. After that time, 34% of 'Pinova' and 21% of 'Topaz' apples displayed visible surface lesions. The increase of biospeckle activity was observed during the development of fungal disease. In the second experiment various storage conditions were used and apples were tested during their shelf life by non-destructive and destructive methods. This study showed that biospeckle activity decreased during shelf life, irrespective of storage conditions.