Application of ATR-FTIR for a rapid and simultaneous determination of sugars and organic acids in apricot fruit

A simple, fast and accurate Fourier transform mid-infrared spectroscopy method was developed for simultaneously determining sugar and organic acid contents in apricot fruit slurries using the attenuated total reflectance. The potential of this method coupled with chemometric techniques based on partial least squares was assessed by comparison with currently used enzymatic determination of sucrose, glucose, fructose, malic acid and citric acid. Fruits of eight contrasted cultivars harvested at different ripening stages were used in this study and randomly divided in a calibration set (505 apricots) and in a validation set (252 apricots). The most suitable region was found in the range between 1500 and 900 cm(-1). Good prediction performances were obtained (R-2 >= 0.74 and RMSEP <= 18%). Results concerning the prediction of other quality traits such as firmness, skin colour, ethylene production, soluble solids content and titratable acidity were discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.