Mathematical Modeling of Intercellular Space Volume of Citrus Fruits

Abstract

　The aim of the present study is to determine the intercellular space volume (V_in) of citrus fruits and to develop a simple prediction method for V_in. In determining V_in, the mass (m), vertical and horizontal diameters (vd, hd), total volume (V_t), and real density (P_t) of eight species of citrus fruits of different sizes were measured. The results showed that each species had various V_in, which depended on fruit size; in other words, the larger the size of the fruit, the larger the V_in. However, the levels of porosity (Ø) in each species were not fully proportional to fruit size. The model used to develop the simple prediction method for V_in (V_in=V_t－m/1.0647, where V_in and V_t are in cubic centimeters and m is in grams), exhibited a high determination coefficient (R²＝0.999), modeling efficiency (EF = 0.999), index of agreement (d = 0.999), and paired t-test value (0.365). It was concluded that the model is suitable for predicting V_in of citrus fruits.