Identification of Indian jujube varieties cultivated in Saudi Arabia using an artificial neural network

Adel M Al-Saif; Mahmoud Abdel-Sattar; Abdulwahed M Aboukarima; Dalia H Eshra

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.06.019

Identification of Indian jujube varieties cultivated in Saudi Arabia using an artificial neural network

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2021 Oct;28(10):5765-5772. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.06.019. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

Authors

Adel M Al-Saif¹, Mahmoud Abdel-Sattar^{1

2}, Abdulwahed M Aboukarima^{3

4}, Dalia H Eshra⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant Production, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
² Pomology Department, Faculty of Agriculture-ElShatby 21545, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
³ Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Agricultural Engineering Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt.
⁵ Food Science and Technology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a method for identifying different cultivars of Indian jujube fruits (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) based on a single Indian jujube fruit color and morphological attributes using an artificial neural network (ANN) classifier. Eleven Indian jujube fruit cultivars were collected during winter of season 2020 from a local orchard located at Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia to measure their lengths, major diameters, and minor diameters. Different morphological descriptors were calculated, including the arithmetic mean diameter, the sphericity percent, and the surface area. Moreover, the color values of L*, a*, and b* of the skin of fruits were recorded. The ANN classifier was used to identify the appropriate class of Indian jujube fruit by using a combination of morphological and color descriptors. The proposed method achieved an overall identification rate of 98.39% and 97.56% in training and testing phases, respectively. In addition to color and morphological features, ANN classifier is a useful tool for identifying Indian jujube fruit cultivars and circumventing the difficulties met during fruit grading.

Keywords: Artificial neural networks; Ber; Identification; Indian jujube; Ziziphus mauritiana.