Uso do chemostat para avaliação dos sólidos solúveis por imagens digitais da pitaya vermelha (Hylocereus undatus)

Abstract

The red pitaya is considered an exotic fruit in Brazil, but with a high content of vitamins and minerals when compared to other fruits. Its interest in the health environment has been high because of its potential for supplementation and for its biochemical richness, which has reflected in its market value. In view of this, the quality of the product needs to be guaranteed so that its properties, especially of the fruits, can become functional for the organism besides not bringing with them microorganisms with pathogenic potential. In this sense, the industrial environment takes advantage of the prominence that has been gained to be able to include and develop products with new flavors and touches that ensure the best sensation to the consumer. However, in the processing of products, it is necessary to have a lower level of production of material to be discarded for not being used, as is the case of soluble solids. Therefore, the objective of this work was to verify the application of Chemostat software in the treatment of data from digital images obtained from the juice of the fruit to evaluate the soluble solids of red pitaya (Hylocereus undatus) purchased in the city of Cruz das Almas-Ba. In parallel, therefore, it was also sought to verify whether the application could identify and demonstrate the difference between the concentrations of non-strained pitaya juice and associate the color of the images obtained and relate to the data extracted through Chemostat, with the quantifications of the solids found after drying in an oven. As a result of the research, it was possible to observe that Chemostat can observe different concentrations of a substance through its color, as well as make associations between its concentrations and the amount of solids in it, which makes it an innovative tool for obtaining agility in the analysis of liquid samples, but one must take into account the variables of lighting, camera position, wind and focus of the camera that is extracting the images to be analyzed.