Determination of Physical, Acoustical, Mechanical, and Chemical Properties of Fresh Young Coconut Fruit for Maturity Separation

Young coconut is a popular tropical fruit featuring soft white aromatic flesh and sweet white or transparent juice. As most coconut pickers are relatively unskilled, the harvested crop tends to be distinguished by the collection of fruit of varying levels of maturity. This research has sought to improve the accuracy of grading-packaging systems by developing correlations between maturity levels and the physical, acoustical, mechanical, and chemical properties of the fruit. Results show that maturity significantly affects the specific gravity, shell rupture force, shell secant modulus, flesh penetrating force, flesh firmness, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, flesh thickness (FT), and natural frequency of young coconut at p