Journal of Food Process Engineering ISSN 1745–4530

ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE VARIATIONS IN BANANA RIPENING:

AN ANALYTICAL STUDY WITH ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE
SPECTROSCOPY
ATANU CHOWDHURY1, TUSHAR KANTI BERA2,4, DIBYENDU GHOSHAL1 and BADAL CHAKRABORTY3
1
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, NIT Agartala, Tripura, India
2
Department of Medical Electronics, BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore, India
3
Department of PHE, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, BCKV, West Bengal, India

4
Corresponding author. ABSTRACT
TEL: 1966-546497167
EMAIL: tkbera77@gmail.com Fruit ripening is a very crucial event in food engineering as the fruits are very
important and essential food materials for human health. Under-ripening and over-
Received for Publication May 17, 2015 ripening both are not desirable to have all the essential and important nutrients in
Accepted for Publication March 7, 2016
the fruits which are only available at their optimum-ripening state. Hence, studying
doi:10.1111/jfpe.12387
the ripening process of fruits is very much essential which will not only help the
people to have the best fruit quality but also will help the researcher and scientist to
analyze the food quality. Chemical and biochemical analyses conducted to analyze
the fruit ripening are time-consuming and destructive in nature; hence, these
methods, generally, are not found suitable for routine, fast and repetitive
inspections. A fast and nondestructive fruit ripening characterization method is
found essential to study the ripening state and fruit nutrients levels. In this
direction, the EIS studies have been conducted as a nondestructive evaluation
method to study the electrical impedance variations during banana ripening. The
electrical impedance of banana samples is measured by Agilent 4294A impedance
analyzer at different states of ripening and the ripening states are correlated with
their corresponding impedances. All the impedance parameters, Z, phase angle, real
part of Z and imaginary part of Z are studied to analyze the ripening phenomena in
terms of banana impedance. The results demonstrate that the complex impedance,
real part and imaginary part of the impedance all increase with the progresses in the
ripening process. Equivalent circuit modeling shows that the ripened banana
contains constant phase elements. Statistical analysis conducted on the samples
from a same bunch also shows that the electrical impedance spectroscopy technique
can be applied for noninvasive characterization of banana ripening.

Practical Applications
EIS conducted on banana ripening characterizes the banana ripening process in
terms of its impedance variation and develops the equivalent circuit. EIS studies
establish the correlation between the bioimpedance variation and ripening states
which can be potentially utilized to study the banana ripening noninvasively.
Statistical analysis shows that the standard deviation of all the impedance
parameters of different banana samples obtained from a same bunch is very low
compared to the corresponding mean values. It is observed that the EIS study
conducted on one banana sample can represent the ripening state of the other
bananas and hence the EIS studies conducted on limited number of samples can
be utilized to characterize the ripening of the entire banana stacks. Thus EIS
studies on banana ripening not only help us to find the optimum ripening state
but also it will help the researchers to analyze its physiological changes, taste, and
nutrient levels.

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ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (EIS) OF BANANA RIPENING
INTRODUCTION
Fruit ripening (Lelièvre 1997) is a biochemical process
(Seymour et al. 2012) in which the matured raw fruits
undergo naturally (being attached to the plant) or are stimu-
lated (during storage being detached from the plant)
through several physiological changes over a certain time
period called ripening period. Naturally ripening process
(Burg and Burg 1965) is conducted during the time the
fruits are still attached to the plant after its maturity, which
is considered as pre-harvesting ripening (Herath et al. 1998).
In the artificial ripening, i.e., post-harvesting ripening, the
fruits are detached from the plant and are stimulated by
chemical or other treatments (Herath et al. 1998). In natu-
rally ripening process the plant controls the ripening proce-
dure and fruits are ripened by their physiological changes
(Hopkins and H€ uner 1995), whereas in the post-harvesting
ripening the fruits undergo either a chemical or thermal or
any other stimulus which makes the required physiological
changes. Because it is artificial, the process is required to be
controlled and inspected properly. Improper control or
inspection may cause poor ripening of fruits both in thermal
stimulus (normal storage process) application process
(Vasquez-Caicedo et al. 2007) and chemical application pro-
cess (applying some chemical materials by injection) (Gold-
ing et al. 1998).
Fruit quality depends on the fruit ripening (Gierson and
Kader 1986; Kader 1997). To get the physiological develop-
ment of all the necessary nutrients, proper ripening of fruits
is essential (Gierson and Kader 1986; Kader 1997). After rip-
ening, most of the fruits are found suitable for eating with
our desired taste and nutrients, but there are also fruits which
are consumed at the early state due to the requirement of
some particular taste and nutrients available at that physio-
logical maturity. As, generally, the proper ripening of fruits
ensures the better taste with the maximum availability of all
the desired nutrients, both the under ripening or over ripen-
ing are not preferred. The process of fruit ripening, therefore,
are required to be studied to identify an optimum ripening
state at which all the essential and important nutrients are
available. Moreover, monitoring the ripening process helps
obtain a number of information about the physiological and
biochemical changes occurring in the fruits.
Banana is a very common and useful fruit all over the
world. Ripened banana is a rich source of vitamins and min-
erals (Kader 1997) which are essential for human health.
Hence, studying of banana ripening is important, which will
help not only people to have quality of banana but also the
researchers and scientists to analyze its taste, nutrient con-
tents and quality. Though the ripening state and the corre-
sponding fruit quality can be evaluated and assessed by the
chemical and biological analysis, yet these techniques are
destructive. Moreover, biological and biochemical analyses
2 Journal of Food Process Engineering 00 (2016) 00–00 V
A. CHOWDHURY ET AL.
(Miloski et al. 2008; Anowar Hossain et al. 2014) are some-
times not found suitable for routine investigations because
these methods destroy the fruits and are also time-
consuming (Anowar Hossain et al. 2014). Chemical and bio-
chemical methods need to prepare special samples such as
crude extract or supernatant (Anowar Hossain et al. 2014)
which needs special laboratory set up (such as chemical or
biochemical wet bench), expertise and time. Therefore, to
study the fruit ripening state and to evaluate the fruit
nutrients levels noninvasively, a nondestructive banana rip-
ening process technique is found essential for fast, reliable
and repetitive monitoring.
Like other flowering plants, bananas are developed from
specific tissues after fertilization in banana flowers. Banana
tissues are gradually developed with time before it becomes
matured enough for natural or artificial ripening. Biological
tissues are composed of cells which are surrounded by cell
wall and form a complex three-dimensional array suspended
in extracellular fluids (Alberts et al. 2002). Though the intra-
cellular fluids and extracellular fluids provide resistive path,
the cell membrane produces some capacitive reactance due
to its membrane capacitance (Hayden et al. 1969; Zhang
et al. 1995; Damez et al. 2007; Wu et al. 2008; Azzarello et al.
2012; Ando et al. 2014). Thus, biological tissues produce a
complex electrical impedance called bioelectrical impedance
or bioimpedance (Schwan 1963; Pethig 1987; Ackmann
1993; Schwan 1994; Ackmann and Seitz 1995; Cha et al.
1995; Schwann et al. 2002; Sverre et al. 2002; Damijan et al.
2006; Bera and Nagaraju 2013; Bera et al. 2013; Kwon et al.
2013; Seo et al. 2013; Zhang et al. 2014) which depends on
tissue properties (Chumlea and Guo 1994; Halder et al.
2011; Vozary et al. 2011) as well as the frequency of the elec-
trical signal applied (Ackmann 1993; Ackmann and Seitz
1995; Cha et al. 1995; Schwann et al. 2002).
Similar to any other biological tissue, the bananas also
produce a complex bioelectrical impedance, which is found
as a function of tissue composition, tissue anatomy and tis-
sue health. As the bioimpedance contains the frequency-
dependent capacitive components, the banana impedance is
also found as frequency-dependent like any other bioelectri-
cal impedance of any other biological cells and tissues.
Therefore, the electrical impedance of banana not only varies
with the change in tissue composition, tissue structure and
tissue health, but also the electrical impedance of banana
changes with of the applied signal frequency. Therefore, by
monitoring the bioelectrical impedance of banana can be
found as a signature of tissue anatomy and physiology at a
particular frequency or within a known frequency band.
Moreover, as the electrical impedance varies with applied
signal frequency, the frequency responses of banana imped-
ance can provide more information for better tissue charac-
terization. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) (Harker
and Maindonald 1994a,b; Varlan and Sansen 1996; Harker
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A. CHOWDHURY ET AL. ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (EIS) OF BANANA RIPENING

and Forbes 1997; Arpaia et al. 2008; Bauchot et al. 2000;

Jackson and Harker 2000; Keshtkar 2007; Chang and Park
2010; Bera and Nagaraju 2011; Ramos and Janeiro 2013;
Bera et al. 2014a, 2014b; Santos et al. 2014; Sanchez et al.
2014) monitors complex electrical impedance of an object
under test by applying a constant amplitude alternating cur-
FIG. 1. BANANA IMPEDANCE MEASUREMENT
rent signal at different frequencies and by measuring the fre- (a) Impedance measurement using two-electrode technique and
quency dependent potentials developed at the object (b) impedance measurement using four-electrode technique.
boundary using an electrode array (Fig. 2) and an electrical
impedance measuring instrumentation (Min et al. 2000; from EIS studies conducted over a wide range of frequen-
Hoja and Lentka 2008; Bouchaala et al. 2015). EIS has been cies and the frequency dependent behavior of the banana
found as a very powerful technique for noninvasive and ripening is studied in terms of banana impedance. Real
nondestructive material characterization characterize in sev- part (Rb) and imaginary parts (Xb) of the electrical
eral fields of engineering, technology and applied sciences impedance of the banana samples under test are calcu-
(Lelièvre et al. 1997; Gomadam and Weidnern 2005; Zelinka lated from the complex impedance and the Nyquist plots
et al. 2008; Huang et al. 2010; Grossi et al. 2012; Seymour are drawn. The Nyquist plots are fitted in curve fitting
et al. 2012; Cruza et al. 2013). software and the electrical equivalent circuit model (Yu
The bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (Dean et al. et al. 2015) is developed to find out the equivalent circuit
2008; Heroux and Bourdages 1994) applies the EIS tech- parameters from the Nyquist plots. The variations in
nique to measure the bioelectrical impedance of biologi-
banana physiology during the ripening process are stud-
cal samples such as the biological cell and tissue. A
ied in terms of the changes in electrical equivalent circuit
number research works have been conducted on the
parameters obtained from the banana impedance curves.
applications of EIS for biological tissue characterization
The EIS data is analyzed to obtain the information about
for disease diagnosis and tissue health assessment. In the
the ripening process and stages. The EIS based banana
similar direction few research works also have been con-
ripening studies will help us to study and identify the
ducted on the impedance based monitoring for plant tis-
ripening states of the banana which could be utilized for
sue characterization and plant physiology (Taiz and
optimum ripening and better fruit quality.
Zeiger 2010) studies such as kiwi fruit anatomy studies
(Bauchot et al. 2000), apple physiology assessment (Sun
and Jiang 2010), tea leaves freshness evaluation (Mizu- MATERIALS AND METHODS
kami et al. 2006), avocados ripening (Bean et al. 1960),
fruit flesh analysis (Vozary and Benk} o 2010), banana rip- Physiology and Bioimpedance of Banana
ening (Chowdhury et al. 2014) and so on. Therefore, EIS
The plant tissues are developed with the plant cells mem-
technique is found to be suitable and effective for the
brane and cell walls and are suspended in an extracellular
noninvasive monitoring of anatomical and/or physiologi-
fluids (ECF) to develop the three dimensional array of cells
cal changes in plant tissues. As during the ripening pro-
to develop the tissue structure. As like any other biological
cess of banana, a number of physiological changes are
cells the plant cells are filled with conductive intracellular
occurred inside the banana flesh there will be measurable
fluids (ICF) and capacitive cell membranes, the plant cells
change in banana electrical impedance. Hence, EIS can
and tissues exerts a complex bioelectrical impedance to an
be applied to monitor the variations of electrical imped-
alternating electrical signal. Therefore the bioimpedance of
ance over a certain frequency range, to characterize the
the banana (Zb) will be found as a frequency dependent
banana ripening process noninvasively and hence it can
complex function which can be represented as:
be potentially utilized to study and assess the fruit ripen-
ing and fruit nutrients.  
Toward this direction, the complex bioimpedance (Zb) Zb ðxÞ5ReðxÞ2jIm ZðxÞ 5Rb ðxÞ2jXb ðxÞ; (1)
of banana is measured over a wide range of frequencies
and the different ripening states are evaluated in terms of where Re(Z(x)) 5 Rb and Im(Z(x)) 5 Xb represents the
the electrical impedance. The electrical bioimpedance of magnitude of the real part of complex Zb and the magnitude
different banana samples are studied with EIS (Chowd- of the imaginary part of complex Z, respectively.
hury et al. 2014) and their ripening states are correlated The banana impedance (Zb) can be measured from the
with their corresponding impedances which can utilized surface potential (Vb) developed by a constant amplitude
to evaluate the associated nutrients levels. The banana alternating current (Ib) using two electrode or four electrode
bioimpedance (Zb) and phase angle (hb) are measured method as:

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ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (EIS) OF BANANA RIPENING
FIG. 2. ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE STUDIES OF AN OBJECT USING
IMPEDANCE ANALYZER
V/ub
Zb /ub 5
I/0
In two electrode method (Fig. 1a) the current injection and
voltage measurement are done with same electrode pairs and
hence the measurement suffers from the contact impedance
problem. But, in four electrode method (Fig. 1b), the current
is injected through a pair of surface electrodes called driving
or current electrodes and the voltages are measured across
the sensing electrodes.
In single frequency impedance measurement of banana,
the banana impedance (Zb) and its phase angle (hb) are
found as the functions of banana compositions and banana
properties at a particular frequency point (f1). In EIS proce-
dure conducted on banana ripening monitoring the banana
impedance are measured at a number of frequencies
FIG. 3. ELECTRICAL EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT MODELING FROM EIS DATA
(a) Nyquist plot of the standard circuit elements and their combinations and (b) Nyquist plot of the circuit containing constant phase element (CPE).
4 Journal of Food Process Engineering 00 (2016) 00–00 V
A. CHOWDHURY ET AL.
(fi: i 5 1, 2, 3, . . ., n) and banana impedances are calculated
at each frequency point as:
Vðxi Þ
Zb ðxi Þ5
Iðxi Þ
Therefore, under an alternating electrical excitation, the
banana tissue produces complex bioelectrical impedances
which are the functions of tissue composition as well as the
frequency of the applied signal. Therefore the banana imped-
ance calculated at a particular frequency of the frequency
response of the banana impedance obtained within a particu-
lar frequency band, varies with the banana physiology and spe-
cial biological status such as ripening. Thus, as the banana
ripening induces a number of physiological phenomena inside
the banana anatomy, the banana impedance varies with the
change in ripening states as well as with the change in its
nutrients levels. Hence, analyzing the complex bioelectrical
impedance of banana over a wide frequency range, one can
estimate ripening physiology and associated nutrient levels.
Like any other plant tissues, the electrical impedance of a
banana consists of the resistive and capacitive components
and does not contain any inductive components. The equiv-
alent circuit modeling of plant cell shows that both the real
(Rb) and imaginary parts (Xb) of complex banana imped-
ance (Zb) vary with frequency and the variations of Xb over
Rb are found as the Nyquist plots of the banana impedance.
The banana impedance Zb, hb, Rb, Xb and Nyquist plots all
are found as the function of signal frequency and depends
on the tissue compositions and tissue physiology. To analyze
the EIS data obtained from the impedance analyzer (Fig. 2)
used for banana ripening studies, the real part of banana
impedance (Rb) and imaginary part of banana impedance
(Xb) at each frequency points are calculated and plotted over
frequency to obtain the Nyquist plot (Hayden et al. 1969;
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A. CHOWDHURY ET AL.
FIG. 4. EIS STUDIES OF BANANA RIPENING USING THE AGILENT
4294A IMPEDANCE ANALYZER
Liu et al. 2007; Juansah et al. 2012a,b; Bera et al. 2014a, b;
Clemente et al. 2014) or R-X spectrum.
Equivalent Circuits: Common Elements and Their
Impedance Behavior. The frequency response of the electri-
cal impedance of an object is modeled with an equivalent
circuit composed of a number of single and/or sub-circuit
elements which collectively resemble the electrical behavior
of the real object. The Nyquist plots obtained from the EIS
studies are used to obtain the equivalent circuit model.
Though the Nyquist plots of basic circuit elements or the
simple combinations of them can be analyzed very easily
(Fig. 3a) but for a real tissue response need, generally, a
curve fitting algorithm to find out the equivalent circuit
parameters. The Nyquist plots of basic circuit elements and
their simple combinations are shown in Fig. 3a. The Nyquist
plots and the equivalent circuit model containing a constant
phase element (CPE) are shown in Fig. 3b.
Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy
of Banana
Fresh mature green bananas are purchased from local market
and are cleaned with distilled water thoroughly. The banana
samples are and kept at room temperature and the EIS
experiments during banana ripening are carried out for 6
days, after 6 days the banana samples are ripened properly
and the EIS studies are stopped. The banana impedance varia-
tion during its ripening process is monitored each day till the
banana is ripened. The sample bananas are taken from third
row of the whole branch. In horticulture studies, generally the
maturity of the banana fruits is tested in the third branch as a
rule. Using Agilent 4294A - 40Hz to 110MHz Precision
Impedance Analyzer (Keysight Technologies (formerly Agi-
lent), Penang, Malaysia) the electrical impedance and phase
angles of banana samples are measured by applying a small
amplitude sinusoidal current from 50 Hz and 1 MHz through
an array of Ag/AgCl electrodes (standard ECG electrodes)
attached to the banana surface (Fig. 4). The ECG electrodes
are pasted on the banana samples with conducting gel to
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ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (EIS) OF BANANA RIPENING
reduce the contact impedance between electrode-tissue inter-
face (Paćelat et al. 2000; Echabaane et al. 2013; Bera et al.
2015] on the banana skin.
During the ripening process the banana impedance and
its phase angles are measured at 100 frequency points
between 50 Hz and 1 MHz. Real (Rb) and imaginary parts
(Xb) of Z are calculated from the measured impedance and
phase angle (hb) using the following equations:
Rb 5jZb jcos ub ; (2)
Xb 5jZb jsin ub : (3)
The variation of Zb, hb, Rb and Xb over frequencies are stud-
ied during different stages of the banana ripening process.
Tehe variation of Rb over Xb known as Nyquist plot is stud-
ied to during the banana ripening process. The Nyquist plots
obtained in different ripening states are fitted in curve fitting
software and the equivalent circuit parameters are calculated
to evaluate the ripening process.
The low amplitude sinusoidal current at 50 kHz is found
safe for biomedical applications (Holder 1992, 2008). Also,
the higher amplitude current could be applied safely, at
higher frequency as per the electrical safety standards (Holder
1992, 2008). As the EIS is conducted with low amplitude of
sinusoidal current in the range of kHz for biological materi-
als, the procedure is also found safe for its application for
biological tissue characterization. Though at low frequency
the impedance is found high but as the injected current is
kept at very low amplitude level (in few mA), the tissue
under test remains unaffected during or after the EIS testing.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
EIS studies conducted on banana ripening demonstrate that
the banana impedance (Fig. 5a), phase angle (Fig. 5b), real
part of the impedance (Fig. 5c) and imaginary part of the
impedance (Fig. 5d) of banana varies with the frequency as
well as with the ripening state. The EIS studies conducted
for different banana samples for one week show that the
banana impedance gradually increases during as the banana
gets ripened (Fig. 5a). In the present study, 1 mA sinusoidal
current is found suitable for biological tissue characteriza-
tion. If the real part the impedance of the banana at a partic-
ular frequency side is Rf then the Ohmic heating inside the
tissue will be 1 3 1026 3 Rf watt which is very low. Hence
for 1 mA current injection the Ohmic heat generated during
the experiment will not affect the tissue physiology and
hence can be considered as safe. Also as the applied signal is
alternating with high frequency (from few kHz to few MHz)
there will be no electrolysis inside the tissue.
The possible reason of the increase in the banana ripening
may be assumed as the increase in sugar content and
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FIG. 5. BANANA IMPEDANCE RESPONSE OBTAINED DURING ITS RIPENING

(a) Z-f curves of banana ripening over different days, (b) theta-f curves of banana ripening over different days, (c) R-f curves of banana ripening
over different days, (d) X-f curves of banana ripening over different days.

subsequent other physiological changes such as the reduc-

tion in acidic or salt parts. Also the reduction in iron parts
in the banana tissue may decrease the banana tissue conduc-
tivity which in turn will increase the impedance. The biologi-
cal and biochemical studies need to be conducted parallelly
with the impedance spectroscopic studies to estimate the tis-
sue composition changes during the ripening and then the
results could be correlated with the impedance variations.
The phase angle variation (Fig. 5b) shows that the fre-
quency at which the maximum phase angle occurs at

FIG. 6. R-X CURVES [NYQUIST PLOTS] OF BANANA RIPENING OVER

DIFFERENT DAYS FIG. 7. EUIVALENT CIRCUIT MODEL OF BANANA DURING RIPENING

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A. CHOWDHURY ET AL.
FIG. 8. CURVE FITTING IN Zsim pro: NYQUIST PLOT
different. This is due the decrease in reactive part in the
banana during ripening. The real part of the banana imped-
ance increases with ripening and decreases with frequency
(Fig. 5c). The imaginary part of banana impedance increases
with ripening and it increase at low frequencies but decreases
in high frequency regions (Fig. 5d). Nyquist plots (Fig. 6)
obtained for banana ripening show a clear shift of both the
real impedance data and imaginary impedance data, which
have been analyzed by impedance curve fitting technique in
ZSim Pro software and the results are given below.
The equivalent circuit modeling of banana tissue is done
with ZSimPro software and the Nyquist plots are fitted. The
best fit model is shown below (Fig. 7) and the best fit is found
FIG. 9. CURVE FITTING IN Zsim pro: BODE PLOT
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ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (EIS) OF BANANA RIPENING
at iteration 10 with an error of 3.16E-07. The equivalent circuit
parameters of the banana are obtained from the Nyquist curve
fitting in the software. Equivalent electrical circuit analysis of
banana ripening at different storage conditions is studied (Fig.
8) and it is observed that the resistive part in the banana
increases during ripening. The Bode plot, Z0 and Z00 plot and
Y0 versus Y00 plot are shown in Figs. 9–11, respectively.
The mathematical model may change from variety to
variety as the internal physiology may change. But if a thor-
ough study is conducted on different variety of the bananas
a data set may be made to obtain all the mathematical
model available to characterize each variety by the devel-
oped model data base of the banana impedance. The
7
ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (EIS) OF BANANA RIPENING
FIG. 10. CURVE FITTING IN Zsim pro: Z0 AND Z00 PLOT
impedance studies on the other banana variety could be
conducted in future studies to contribute to develop the
banana impedance model database and could be reported
in future communication.
To understand the impedance variation of sample to sam-
ple, the impedance responses of different fingers (single
banana) in a banana hand or bunch or branch are tested.
Three different banana samples named Sample B1, Sample
B2 and Sample B3 are selected from a same banana bunch
or banana hand and the impedance response are studied
with EIS (Fig. 12). Figures 12a–d show the impedance
amplitude (Z), phase angle of impedance (h), real part of
impedance (R), imaginary part of impedance (X), respec-
tively, for all the banana samples B1, B2 and B3. Figure 12e
FIG. 11. CURVE FITTING IN ZSim Pro: Y0 Versus Y00 PLOT
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A. CHOWDHURY ET AL.
show the Nyquist plots of the banana samples B1, B2 and
B3. The algebraic mean or average (AVG) of the impedance
parameters (Z, h, R and X) are shown in the Fig. 12f.
It is clearly observed that the sample to sample variation
in impedance parameters is very low for the samples of a
same banana bunch. R-X plots of all these three samples are
also found very close to each other. Thus the sample to sam-
ple analysis proves that the by testing a single banana one
can predict the ripening state of all other samples by imped-
ance spectroscopy.
The statistical analysis has also been conducted to under-
stand the sample to sample impedance variation. The stand-
ard deviation (STDV) of the all the impedance parameters
(Z, h, R and X) are calculated at each frequency points for all
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A. CHOWDHURY ET AL. ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (EIS) OF BANANA RIPENING

FIG. 12. IMPEDANCE VARIATION FROM SAMPLE TO SAMPLE IN A SAME BANANA BUNCH
(a) Z-f curves, (b) theta-f curves, (c) R-f curves, (d) X-f curves, (e) R-X curves [Nyquist plots], (f) comparison of mean values of all the impedance
parameters (Z, u, R and X).

these three samples of banana token from the same brunch.
Figures 13a–d show the STDV of the amplitude of the
impedance (STDVZ), STDV of phase angle (STDVu), STDV
of real part of impedance (STDVR) and STDV of imaginary
part of impedance (STDVX), respectively. As shown in Figs.
13a–d the results demonstrate that STDVZ, STDVu, STDVR
and STDVX all are very low compared to the actual imped-
ance mean (AVG).
The biological and biochemical physiology of fruits gradu-
ally change during their ripening process (Bower and Cut-
ting 1988; Schlimme and Rooney 1994; Watada et al. 1996;
Pangaribuan and Irving 2006; Beaulieu and Gorny; Alferez
et al. 2006; Rai et al. 2011; Slavin and Lloyd 2012; Ghasem-
nezhad et al. 2013). The nutrition level and the food quality
depends on the fruit physiology and hence the evaluation of
ripening process is found essential to ensure the optimum

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ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (EIS) OF BANANA RIPENING
FIG. 13. ALGEBRAIC MEAN OR AVERAGE (AVG) OF THE IMPEDANCE PARAMETERS (Z, u, R and X) OF THE BANANA SAMPLES B1, B2 AND B3
AND THEIR STANDARD DEVIATIONS
(a) AVGZ and STDVZ, (b) AVGu and STDVu, (c) AVGR and STDVR, (d) AVGX and STDVX.
ripening state, better food quality with required nutrition
level. Sometimes the evaluation of ripening physiology of
the fruits is necessary in order to find out the possible cause
of ripening to examine the storage disorders (Bower and
Cutting 1988). Research studies show that a number of sig-
nificant physiological changes occur in the fruits associated
with changes in ethylene production, respiration and
enzyme activity including cell wall and membrane-
associated proteins (Pangaribuan and Irving 2006). In the
post harvested state, as the fruits are removed from their
source of water, minerals and sustenance, the fruit tissues
continue to respire, using available and stored sugars and
organic acids, and they begin to senesce rapidly. Along with
the progression of ripening process, the postharvest fruit qual-
ity is depends on respiration, water loss (transpiration), enzy-
matic discoloration of cut surfaces, decay (microbial),
senescence and mechanical damage suffered during prepara-
tion, shipping, handling and processing (Beaulieu and Gorny;
Schlimme and Rooney 1994; Watada et al. 1996). The physio-
logical changes are found in mature citrus fruit induced by
either a plant growth regulator that selectively promotes
10
A. CHOWDHURY ET AL.
abscission in mature citrus fruit (Citrus sinensis) the ethylene-
releasing agent ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid)
(Alferez et al. 2006). Also the study and control of ripening
process is essential as after the starting of ripening process, the
fruits generally have a very short period of acceptability before
the senescence occurs (Slavin and Lloyd 2012). The physiolog-
ical changes are also found different for the fruits harvested at
different stages. As reported by Ghasemnezhad et al. (2013),
the ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds and antioxidant ele-
ments in the kiwi fruit samples are found with different quan-
tity after the four months cold storage. Rai et al. (2011)
reported that the biochemical, microbiological and physiolog-
ical changes are found in with different storage conditions for
Jamun or Indian blackberry (Syzygium cumini L.) in which
the ascorbic acid content, flavonoids and anthocyanin content
varies with storage atmosphere and conditions. Also, Sal-
unkhe et al. (1974) reported that the quality of tomato fruit
(Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) in respect to color, texture, fla-
vor and nutritive value depends on the chemical constituents
in the fruit. The reported that high sugar contents, redness of
color and firm texture are associated with prominence of rich
Journal of Food Process Engineering 00 (2016) 00–00 V
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A. CHOWDHURY ET AL.
flavor but also the growth, maturation and environment
influences the biochemical changes in the fruit.
Research studies show that the physiological changes
influence the biochemical content in the fruit which again
influence its nutritional content. As the physiological
changes such, as ripening, can be monitored by impedance
studies, the impedance analysis also can reveal the nutri-
tional content level. A number of information could be
obtained from the studies on the fruit bioimpedance to find
out the relation between the fruit nutritional level and the
fruit impedance. The impedance based fruit nutrient analysis
need a detail investigation on fruit samples followed by the
biochemical analysis of each sample. But this is found as
beyond the scope of this present study and could be con-
ducted as the future research directions.
CONCLUSION
Banana ripening has been studied noninvasively using EIS
technique and the electrical impedance variations during
banana ripening are analyzed. The results demonstrate that
the impedance, phase angle, real and imaginary part of the
impedance all varies with the degree of banana ripening. The
impedance plot and Nyquist plots show a clear shift of
impedance data during ripening. The equivalent circuit
parameters of the banana during its ripening are obtained
from the Nyquist curve fitting process with high accuracy.
Equivalent circuit parameters studies show that during rip-
ening the resistive part in the banana increases and the
equivalent circuit of banana contains constant phase ele-
ments during banana ripening. The standard deviation of all
the impedance parameters is very low compared to the cor-
responding mean values in different banana samples
obtained from the same banana bunch. The statistical analy-
sis conducted with EIS studies on different banana samples
from a same bunch show that the impedance variation from
sample to sample is very low which proves that the imped-
ance study conducted on one banana can represent the rip-
ening state of the other bananas. Hence the EIS studies
conducted on limited number of sample can be utilized for
noninvasively characterize the ripening state of the entire
banana stacks. Though the mathematical model may change
from variety to variety due to the change in banana physiol-
ogy, but if a data set is made for the mathematical models of
all the different varieties of the bananas, the characterization
of each variety will be possible by using the developed model
data base of the banana impedance. As mathematical model
of banana of different variety may change from each other, a
thorough study is needed on different variety of the bananas
to obtain all the mathematical model representing their
equivalent impedance models for characterization. Thus a
future studies on the development of banana impedance
models database could be conducted communicated in
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ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (EIS) OF BANANA RIPENING
future to contribute to develop the banana impedance model
database. Also the biological composition change of the
banana tissue may be correlated with the corresponding elec-
trical impedance changes by conducting biological and bio-
chemical studies. Several information could be obtained
from the fruit impedance analysis and a relation between the
fruit nutritional level and the electrical impedance could be
established in future research studies.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
All the authors acknowledge the NIT Agartala (NITA), Tri-
pura, India for providing the research facilities to conduct
and complete the research work. All authors also acknowl-
edge the BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore, India and
the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), Kol-
kata, India for their active the research collaboration with
NITA for successful completion of the project.
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