Received: 7 March 2020 Revised: 5 April 2020
DOI: 10.1002/jbio.202000076
FULL ARTICLE
Ripening of avocado fruits studied by spectroscopic
techniques
Xiaobo Lin1 | Han Zhang1 | Lingna Hu1
Sune Svanberg1,2 | Katarina Svanberg1,2
1
Center for Optical and Electromagnetic
Research, South China Academy of
Advanced Optoelectronics, South China
Normal University, Guangzhou, China
2
Lund Laser Center, Lund University,
Lund, Sweden
Correspondence
Katarina Svanberg and Sune Svanberg,
Center for Optical and Electromagnetic
Research, South China Academy of
Advanced Optoelectronics, South China
Normal University, Guangzhou 510006,
China.
Email: katarina.svanberg@med.lu.se and
sune.svanberg@fysik.lth.se
Funding information
Guangdong Innovation Research Team
Program, Grant/Award Number:
201001D0104799318
Xiaobo Lin and Han Zhang contributed equally to this study.
J. Biophotonics. 2020;e202000076.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jbio.202000076
Accepted: 7 April 2020
| Guangyu Zhao1 |
Abstract
Avocados are considered very healthy due to the
high content mono-unsaturated lipid, essential
vitamins and minerals, minimal sugar and no
cholesterol and are therefore sometimes referred
to as “the perfect fruits”. Avocados, mainly
grown in Latin-America, are harvested unripe
and sent overseas. However, the ripening process
is very difficult to assess visually and tactilely. A
tool for precise noninvasive judgment of the sta-
tus would be valuable as the fruit is too expensive
to be cut open unripe or overdue. A white-light
source and a light-emitting diode unit with four
excitation wavelengths (365, 385, 395, and
405 nm) were used for reflectance and fluores-
cence spectroscopy in a fiber-coupled set-up for noninvasive monitoring. Twelve
non-ripe avocados, with approximately the same size and appearance, were stud-
ied and divided into three groups and kept at three different storage conditions; at
room temperature, in a refrigerator and a combination of the two. We showed that
fluorescence was useful for following the ripening process. A method, which com-
pensates for the spatial variations in spectral properties around a fruit, is described.
Remote fluorescence monitoring, intended for orchard use, was also demon-
strated. A low-cost device based on fluorescence for avocado ripeness assessment is
proposed.
KEYWORDS
avocado, fluorescence spectroscopy, fruit ripening, noninvasive technique, reflectance
spectroscopy
1 | INTRODUCTION
Biophotonics is the science of optical studies of living
matter. The improved well-being of humans, including
quality aspects of food, may be considered as the final
www.biophotonics-journal.org © 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 1 of 10
2 of 10
goal of biophotonics research, which frequently focuses
on issues directly connected to the human body. How-
ever, the health is largely governed by external aspects
such as food intake. Fruits constitute a highly natural
part in such contexts. The avocado fruit (Persea Ameri-
cana), botanically a berry with a big stone, exhibits
numerous valuable nutritional characteristics and there-
fore sometimes is referred to as a “perfect fruit” in popu-
lar press, scientifically even proven with possible
cardiovascular protective effects. Comparing to other
fruits, which primarily contain carbohydrates, the avo-
cado fruit has a uniquely high content of fat (15 g/100 g)
[1–3]. Out of this, a substantial part (75% of the total fat)
is the healthy mono or poly-unsaturated fat [1–6], which
has a scientifically proven ability to support cardiovascu-
lar health [4, 7, 8]. It is also shown that avocado diet
decreases the concentration of low-density lipoprotein
(LDL) [1, 2, 4, 7, 8], which is the main cause for develop-
ment of atherosclerosis (eg, 9). Interestingly, a recent
study reports that high-fat Mediterranean diet (41% fat)
does not cause any increase in coronary heart disease
[10], cited as the French Paradox. However, this diet also
consists of a lot of vegetables, virgin olive oil [11, 12]
(with known beneficiary health effects) and antioxidant
polyphenol-containing red wine [10, 13] (disputable
effect), which might compensate for the total high fat
intake. Avocados have been shown with antioxidant
property [1, 14–16]. Besides the cardiovascular effect of
this antioxidant property, it has also a proven symptom-
atic positive effect in osteoarthritis [17–19]. The circula-
tory protective effect seems to be reached by consuming
0.5-1.5 avocado daily for which a 9%-43% reduction in the
serum cholesterol was shown [3]. Other nutritionally pos-
itive fact is the very low content of sugar (0.3%) [1, 3]. It
also contains more than 10 essential vitamins and other
important nutrients, such as dietary fibers (~7%), and
10 different minerals, including calcium, iron, magne-
sium and potassium [1].
The origin of the fruit is in Mexico, where it was culti-
vated by the Aztecs, already as early as 500 BC. Mexico is also
the number one exporter of avocado (43%) followed by Peru
(13%), Spain (6%) and Chile (6%) [1, 2]. Avocado fruits are
common in Western Europe and in the United States, and
the interest for the fruit is steadily growing. The high
demand for avocado fruits in China reflects a new culinary
habit, with Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou accounting
for the largest fraction. A 210-fold increase in Chinese
import numbers was reported during the 5 years 2012-2017
(153 and 32 136 tons, respectively) [20].
The weight of an avocado is about 130 g, out of which
the skin and the stone comprise one third of the total
weight. A particularity with the avocado, as compared to
LIN ET AL.
many other fruits, is that the skin is very protective and
eliminates the need for packaging. It also provides protec-
tion against diseases and pest insects, which allows the
fruit to grow in an environmentally sustainable way
without the use of any pesticides [1]. It also means that
the fruit is completely void of toxic substances from
potentially harmful chemical agents. This particular and
unique fact together with the advantageous nutritional
aspects adds important characteristics to the avocado,
which is a climacteric fruit. This means that it has the
ability to ripen after it is picked from the tree. Other cli-
macteric fruits are apples, bananas, apricots and toma-
toes, while, for example, citrus, grapes and strawberries
are non-climacteric. The natural climacteric ripening pro-
cess is associated with increased ethylene production and
a rise in cellular respiration. However, a prerequisite is
that the avocado is mature when it is harvested, in order
to ripe properly after it comes off the tree. The avocado
fruits are picked non-ripe, hard and light green. The
fruits are kept in low temperature (3 C-6 C) when
shipped overseas to reach the final destination in a basket
on the fruit dealer's shelf [21]. They may have been in
transit for up to 2 months. At such a stage, the avocado is
frequently lacking the appealing flavor, and consistency.
The taste is bitter due to high contents of acid. The taste
is extremely dependent on the status of ripeness. The
fruit is too expensive to be cut open, either unripe or
overdue. It would therefore be advantageous to cus-
tomers if the fruit dealers could have a realistic, handheld
tool to make sure that the avocado is sold at the right
time for consumption.
The avocado skin is very rich in chlorophyll when
the fruit is non-ripe, and turns darker when ripening.
The slight color change goes hand in hand with the
development of an attractive taste. However, when this
time point is reached is not easy to assess visually or
tactilely. Recently, different spectroscopic techniques,
including near-infrared spectroscopy, have been devel-
oped for non-intrusive assessment of fruit ripeness [22–
28], and hyperspectral imaging has also been applied
[29]. Our group has used fluorescence and reflectance
as well as gas in scattering media absorption spectros-
copy (GASMAS), to investigate the ripening of the trop-
ical fruits guava, mango, papaya and nectarine [30],
and studied the influence of the fruit skin on gas diffu-
sion in and out of fruits [31]. Based on the experience
from these studies, we have now investigated the tem-
poral changes in reflectance and fluorescence proper-
ties of the particularly interesting avocado fruit, when
stored under different conditions. The goal has been to
reach an objective assessment of ripening status of
these particularly valuable fruits.
LIN ET AL.
The next section describes the fruits investigated
and the experimental arrangements employed. Then,
the measurements of reflectance and fluorescence are
described. Section 4 presents the results, and the out-
come is discussed in Section 5. A simple spectroscopic
device for ripeness assessment is finally proposed. The
approach is possible since spectroscopic functions/indi-
ces with a monotonous change as a function of time
were established, covering the time from the fruit
being obviously unripe until being obviously overdue.
Thus, for a specific device, a function threshold or
interval, as assessed by a taste panel, can be selected
for signaling suitability for consumption. A demonstra-
tion of the possibility of remote assessment of fruit sta-
tus, while they still are on the trees, is also presented
and commented on.
2 | M A T E R I A L AN D
EXPERIMENTAL ARRANGEMENTS
Twelve avocado fruits, with approximately the same size
and appearance, were selected at a local market in
Guangzhou, to be investigated in our study. They were
all visually fresh and with hard texture. The avocados
were divided into three groups (A, B, C) with four fruits
in each group. Each avocado was placed in a clear, bowl-
shaped container with a corresponding label (eg, a1, a2,
a3, a4, etc., or b1, b2, b3, b4) marked on the outside, and
FIGURE 1 Photos of avocado a3 during a 20 days period. The numbers indicate the dates
3 of 10
each group of avocados was put in a box with a lid.
Group A (a1, a2, a3, a4) was kept at room temperature
(around 25  C) for 18 days of spectroscopic investigation,
while Group B (b1, b2, b3, b4) was kept in a refrigerator
at 9 C for 28 days. Group C (c1, c2, c3, c4) was placed at
room temperature for 5 days and then kept in a refrigera-
tor at 9 C for the remaining 19 days of the spectroscopic
study. Between the measurement sessions, all fruits were
stored in darkness. During the measurement, the fruits
were extracted and photos of the avocados were also
taken to observe possible visual changes. As an example,
fruit a3 from Group A is shown in Figure 1 during the
time lapse of 20 days.
3 | MEASUREMENTS
3.1 | Light emitting diode-induced
fluorescence spectroscopy measurements
A schematic drawing of the experimental setup for the
spectroscopic measurements of the fluorescence spectra
is shown in Figure 2. A fiber-coupled UV light-emitting
diode unit with four excitation wavelengths (365, 385,
395 and 405 nm) was used in the measurements. The
choice of excitation wavelength in fluorescence studies
influences the relative weight of different chromophores,
and is also related to filter effects by layers of different
constituents, for example, the wax layer on leaves and
4 of 10
F I G U R E 2 Experimental arrangement for the measurements
of the reflectance as well as the fluorescence spectra
fruits. This was dramatically shown, for example, in stud-
ies on maize [32], but is also very evident in the excita-
tion of human tissue [33], and even cultural heritage
surfaces [34]. In a quest, to find the most appropriate
conditions for assessment of ripeness, we choose four dif-
ferent wavelengths in the UV/violet region, where LEDs
are readily available.
The induced fluorescence light was collected by an
optical fiber and brought to the entrance slit of a spec-
trometer. An Ocean Optics Model USB4000 compact
spectrometer was employed. To block out the excitation
light, while passing the fluorescence occurring at longer
wavelengths, a long-pass colored-glass filter (cut off at
450 nm) was used in front of the spectrometer.
Photo-bleaching caused by too much UV light expo-
sure can cause a reduction in fluorescence intensity and
also cause changes in the spectral shape as frequently
encountered in biophotonics research. We made a special
investigation of this aspect, and found that such influ-
ences were negligible for the measurement strategy
applied.
3.2 | Reflectance spectroscopy
measurements
The arrangement for measurements of the reflectance
spectra is also shown in Figure 2. The reflection spectra
were acquired by using a halogen lamp, the radiation of
which was transmitted through an optical fiber to the
sample. Part of the reflected light was captured by the
optical probe and the collected light was transmitted to
the compact spectrometer. The reflected light from a
Lambertian surface made of barium sulfate was also
acquired, and the spectrum was used for normalizing the
sample spectra to reflectance curves.
LIN ET AL.
3.3 | Measurement geometry and
strategy
Fruits have non-uniform appearance, which clearly
makes the objective assessment of maturity more chal-
lenging. We decided to acquire as representative data as
possible, and thus proceeded in the way described below.
The fruits were placed on a rotation base, divided into
eight angular sectors. The measurements started at a ran-
dom angle, and eight measurement points separated by
45 were monitored around each avocado. Such measure-
ments were made at three different heights/“latitude”
levels on the fruit to obtain in total 24 measurement
points distributed around the top, middle and bottom of
the avocado, as illustrated in Figure 2. The procedure
allowed us to design a reliable practical measurement
method, as detailed in Section 5.
4 | RESULTS
Fluorescence and reflectance spectra of an avocado at dif-
ferent ripening stages are shown in Figure 3A,B, respec-
tively, with the a3 avocado of Group A as an example.
The reflectance spectra feature very strong chlorophyll
absorption through the visible region extending up to
690 nm. Under the excitation light at 365, 385, 395 and
405 nm (Figure 3C-F, respectively), the two fluorescence
intensity peaks of chlorophyll are prominent, with the
740 nm peak falling outside the region of chlorophyll
reabsorption, which is not the case for the 685 nm peak.
During the ripening process, the ratio of the peak intensi-
ties is changing reflecting the change in chlorophyll con-
tents (see, eg, [35, 36]). Reabsorption of fluorescence is
frequently observed in biophotonics of human tissue,
where blood causes strong reabsorption in its Soret band,
peaking at 405 nm, and at its secondary absorption peaks
at 540 and 580 nm. Its influence can be reduced in those
contexts by forming fluorescence intensity ratios for
wavelength pairs, where the reabsorption is the same
(zero differential absorption) but unknown, and is can-
celing out in the division [37]. Here, advantage is instead
taken of the strong differential reabsorption. Both reflec-
tion and fluorescence spectra provide good indications of
the chlorophyll content, and the visible part contains
information on further chromophores. The influence on
the fluorescence spectra of the excitation wavelength is
clearly seen in Figure 3C-F, reflecting the position of the
chlorophyll strong Soret band absorption peak around
400 nm.
In order to study the spectra more in detail, we define
the function R1 = R670 nm/R750 nm to explore the reflection
spectra, where R670 nm and R750 nm are the reflectance
LIN ET AL.
F I G U R E 3 Fluorescence
spectra for 365 nm as the
excitation wavelength, A, and
reflectance spectra, B, for the a3
avocado from Group A during
measurement Days 2, 5 and
8, and fluorescence spectra of
the b3 avocado, for the four
different excitation wavelengths,
C-F panels
values at 670 and 750 nm, respectively. The changes of R1
with time in the three groups with different storage con-
ditions are shown in Figure 4A-C. Likewise, the ratio
R2 = R550 nm/R750 nm was formed. The results for Group A
are given in Figure 4D, as an example. Data for the other
groups exhibit smaller temporal changes. Similarly, the
functions F1 and F2 are defined to indicate the changes in
the fluorescence spectral shapes. F1 is calculated as
F1 = I740 nm/I685 nm, where I740 nm and I685 nm are the fluo-
rescence intensity values at 740 and 685 nm, respectively.
F2 is similarly calculated as F2 = I550 nm/I685 nm. As dis-
cussed earlier, F1 and F2 are quite sensitive to the chloro-
phyll concentration. The results of the fluorescence data
analysis for the different storage condition groups are
given in Figure 5. The data in Figures 4 and 5 are based
on all measurements. As will be further discussed later,
the error bars, which are similar in relative size for all
the data, are quite large due to the large variability of the
fruit around its circumference.
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5 | D A T A A N A LY S I S A N D
DISCUSSION
We first consider the most relevant case, when the fruits
are kept at room temperature all the time (regarding
reflectance, Figure 4A,D, and regarding fluorescence,
Figure 5A-H). It can be seen, that the R1 and F2 curves
for the avocadoes are rising with longer storage times. As
avocados ripen, the chlorophyll content gradually
decreases, reducing the chlorophyll absorption. The
reflection intensity around 670 nm then gradually
increases, while the reflection hardly changes beyond
750 nm; thus, R1 is increasing. Regarding fluorescence,
the peak at 550 nm has a different temporal development
than the peak at 685 nm, causing the ratio F2 of these
two fluorescence intensities to rise with ripeness. This is
largely because of the reduction in the chlorophyll con-
tents. For the same reason, the trend of function F1 is
declining. Both the two peaks of the chlorophyll decrease
6 of 10
when avocadoes ripen, but the peak at 740 nm, not sub-
ject to fluorescence reabsorption due to chlorophyll itself
[35, 36], drops faster. F1 and F2 have similar general
behavior for the four different excitation wavelengths.
Actually, F1, relating only to chlorophyll, as expected,
has identical trends, but the longest wavelength, which
best overlap with chlorophyll Soret-band absorption,
might be expected to yield a higher signal-to-noise ratio.
This is not the case, since for all excitation wavelengths
excellent curves are obtained. The substantial error bars
in all cases have a different origin, as will be discussed
later. Contrary to F1, F2 shows a stronger dynamics
(steeper slope) with time for the longest wavelength
favoring the 685 nm peak excitation and thus the depen-
dence on chlorophyll as compared to the visible spectrum
chromophores is enhanced.
The avocadoes in Group B, which had been kept in
the refrigerator at around 9 C, show similar trends as
those in Group A, but with much less prominent
dynamics, as expected due to the slowed-down physio-
logical processes. We note, however, that the data for
the first few days are identical with those of Group A,
which is reassuring in view of the identical pre-history
of all fruits, where their new storage conditions clearly
are not expected to express themselves immediately.
The results of Group C (25 C-9 C) show trends as
expected in view of the findings from Groups A and B;
that is, the ratios first change rapidly and then only
slowly. Thus, the three groups of fruits exhibit data,
which are quite understandable.
LIN ET AL.
F I G U R E 4 Temporal
development of the ratios
R1 = R670 nm/R750 nm and
R2 = R550 nm/R750 nm, related to
reflectance properties
As demonstrated, it is feasible to study the ripening
process of avocadoes by using the reflection and fluores-
cence spectra. The techniques are simple and cost effec-
tive. Storage conditions strongly influence the ripening as
reflected in the spectral data.
We note, that the error bars in the data shown in
Figure 4 and Figure 5 are quite large, which is not due to
low signal-to-noise ratios, but rather reflect the fact, that
the fruits are not uniform around their circumferences,
for example, related to the growing position on the tree
with regard to the prevailing sunlight (ie, the South direc-
tion). Such large variations of course constitute a problem
in practical assessment of the status of ripeness. In a
quest to get around this problem, we have tested a
method, which largely can compensate for this. Basically,
we evaluate the spectral characteristics in points on the
fruit located at opposite sides (separated by 180 ), and
take the average value to be the one characteristic of the
fruit. With a sinusoidal variation of parameters around
the fruit circumference, this would always yield the same
results, because of the properties of the sinus function.
This reasoning can be illustrated by the observation that
the temperature at a given location, as averaged over
summer and winter, roughly gives the same value as for
averaged spring and autumn temperatures, and many
other similar periodic phenomena can be found. We have
performed an evaluation along these lines for a Group A
fruit excited at 405 nm, and the results for three chosen
times are given in Figure 6, where the consistency is
much improved. We note, that the average values,
LIN ET AL. 7 of 10

F I G U R E 5 Temporal development of the functions F related to fluorescence, F1 (left) and F2 (right), formed from the measured data
for avocados under different storage conditions (Panels A-X)

indicated by the dashed lines, increase with time as variation is reduced from 190% to 15% for Day 3, from
expected from the graph in Figure 5H. Average values for 350% to 20% for Day 8, and from 300% to 20% for Day
four different position pairs with 180 separation are 13, which is a very substantial error source reduction.
given as dots to the right in the graph. We notice that the Thus, in a practical device, a particular fruit would be
8 of 10
measured at two opposite, but otherwise arbitrary posi-
tions, and the average values would be the ones per-
taining to that fruit. Since the parameter variation clearly
is not fully sinusoidal, further improvements can be
expected if two additional positions, at right angles to the
ones are added in the averaging. The data for individual
fruits would be evaluated against the curves (without
error-bars) in Figure 5, which can be considered to accu-
rately reflect the ripening physiology pertaining to the
particular kind of fruits studied, since they are based on
24 distributed measurements on each of four fruits, thus
averaged over 96 data readings. Given the slope of the
F I G U R E 6 Fluorescence data for eight equidistant points
around the fruit evaluated as the F2 function for a Group A fruit for
Days 3, 8 and 13. The average values are given as dashed lines
showing the increase observed in Figure 5. Also, the pairwise
average values, for 0 and 180 , 45 and 225 , 90 and 270 , and
135 and 315 are shown as colored points to the right. The data are
part of the original ones, as shown as averages in Figure 5H
LIN ET AL.
curve in Figure 5H, an assessment based on the opposite-
side approach seems to give an uncertainty of typi-
cally 1 day.
In constructing a useful, handheld device for
assessing the state of ripeness, it seems that the fluores-
cence data obtained for 405 nm excitation (Figure 5H
would provide the largest change with ripeness (show the
strongest dynamics), and thus would be the most suited
for evaluation, considering all data given in Figures 4 and
5. Accordingly, we show in Figure 7A a proposed device
consisting of a 405 nm LED, two silicon detectors and
suitable color-glass filters to isolate the green and the
near-infrared spectral regions of the fluorescence, as
illustrated in Figure 7B. While broader spectral regions
are covered here than the evaluated intensities at the spe-
cific wavelengths given in Figure 5, there is clearly a very
close connection to the broader spectral areas, since
shapes of the curve sectors under the spectral envelopes
are largely similar. Regarding the long-wavelength broad-
band chlorophyll recording, we would even expect a
slightly stronger slope with time in the corresponding
ratio curve, given the temporal development of the two-
peak ratio development shown in Figure 5D. As indicated
in Figure 7A the fruit would be pressed against a light-
shielding rubber gasket for measurement, and again
repeated at the opposite position of the fruit. Data record-
ing could be started by a pressure-activated micro-switch,
and after the second recording, the ripeness outcome
would be immediately displayed on the device, as evalu-
ated by an on-board microprocessor. Based on
corresponding studies on other fruits (see; eg, Reference
31), evaluation against other stored temporally dependent
ratio curves could be made, possibly activating an alter-
native LED, if advantageous. Clearly, the device and its
time-dependent stored evaluation diagrams would finally
F I G U R E 7 Proposed
compact fluorosensor for
avocado ripeness testing, A, and
spectral responses for proposed
optical components of the low-
cost device, B
LIN ET AL.
FIGURE 8 Fluorosensor for remote measurements on fruits, A, and three spectra recorded from avocadoes at 10 m distance, B
need to be calibrated against the outcome of a taste-panel
subjective ripeness judgment, similarly as discussed, for
example, for spectroscopic tea quality assessment [38].
Finally, inspired by the demonstrated practicality in
assessing ripeness, which could be easily assessable to fruit
dealers as well as customers, we consider the case of the
fruit grower, and the case of decision support, finding out
the most suitable time of harvesting by a remote, spectral
measurement of fruits, which are still on the tree. Again,
this could pertain in relation to avocadoes, but also to fruits
in general, climacteric and non-climacteric. A compact
remote fluorosensor of the type developed for water quality
assessment [39] was used in a proof-of-principle experi-
ment, as illustrated in Figure 8. Figure 8A shows the set-up,
including a 1 W 412 nm diode laser and a 5 cm diameter
receiving telescope, coupled to the same type of compact
spectrometer, as was used in our laboratory measurements.
We measured on an avocado placed about 10 m away.
Recorded remote-sensing fluorescence spectra of high qual-
ity are shown in Figure 8B, to illustrate the feasibility of
remote-sensing monitoring of fruits using fluorescence, in a
similar way as has earlier been demonstrated in many other
contexts (see, eg, [32]).
6 | C ON C L U S I ON S
Spectroscopic techniques, such as reflectance and fluo-
rescence measurements, are useful in assessing the
ripeness of fruits. We have studied the particularly inter-
esting case of avocados in the present paper, motivated
by the well-known difficulty to visually or tactilely eval-
uate the inside conditions of these fruits. The avocado
fruit has sometimes been characterized as the “perfect
fruit”, since it, while expensive, exhibits so many well-
established positive effects on human health. Studies
were performed for fruits subject to different
9 of 10
temperature storage conditions. We have shown that
fluorescence is particularly useful for ripeness assess-
ment, and have illustrated a method, which compen-
sates for the spatial variations in spectral properties
around a fruit. We propose a simple, low-cost device,
which might be widely applied by fruit-dealers and cus-
tomers alike. This is possible, since we in our detailed
studies could identify spectroscopic parameters/indices,
which change in a monotonous way from the time when
the fruit is obviously unripe to the time when it is obvi-
ously overdue. Then, a parameter threshold/interval for
the time of preferred consumption can be set for the
particular instrument, after the necessary calibration
towards a taste panel. Finally, we also show, that fluo-
rescence techniques could be extended also to the con-
text of evaluating the status of fruits, while still on trees,
and at considerable distance (height), which could be
interesting for fruit-growers in the assessment the opti-
mum harvesting time. Clearly, our conclusions for avo-
cado could be extended to many other kinds of fruits.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to Professors Sailing He and
Guofu Zhou for kind support. Special thanks to Zheng
Duan, Ye Yuan and Junchen Lu for help with the remote
spectrum recordings, and Ning Han for her help in some
of the experiments, and in some paper formatting. This
work was supported by the Guangdong Innovation
Research Team Program (No. 201001D0104799318).
C O N F L I C T S O F IN T E R E S T
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
ORCID
Sune Svanberg https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4948-6972
Katarina Svanberg https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4190-
0617
10 of 10
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How to cite this article: Lin X, Zhang H, Hu L,
Zhao G, Svanberg S, Svanberg K. Ripening of
avocado fruits studied by spectroscopic techniques.
J. Biophotonics. 2020;e202000076. https://doi.org/
10.1002/jbio.202000076