PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Wayne Kirkman
CONTACT DETAILS: +27 84 458 0349 / waynek@cri.co.za
LEAD INSTITUTION: Citrus Research International
BENEFICIARY: Citrus industry
Objective 1: Assist the three companies to improve the ability of detecting FCM in citrus fruit with automatic online grading systems.
Objective 2: Evaluate the sorting equipment after development/improvements.
Scope for Objective 1: By artificially infesting fruit with FCM, and running them through the grading systems at various stages after infestation, many images and much information will be acquired. The fruit will then be dissected, and the findings reported to the companies involved. By correlating the images/information to the dissection results, the companies can make programming adjustments to their equipment, in order to make it more accurate.
Scope for Objective 2: Once the development phase is over, each system will be scientifically evaluated to determine the ability to detect FCM in citrus fruit. This will allow CRI to make informed decisions about the role that automatic grading units can play in a systems approach for risk mitigation of FCM being present in exported fruit.
