Robust dynamic experiments for the precise estimation of respiration and fermentation parameters of fruit and vegetables

PLoS Comput Biol. 2022 Jan 12;18(1):e1009610. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009610. eCollection 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Dynamic models based on non-linear differential equations are increasingly being used in many biological applications. Highly informative dynamic experiments are valuable for the identification of these dynamic models. The storage of fresh fruit and vegetables is one such application where dynamic experimentation is gaining momentum. In this paper, we construct optimal O2 and CO2 gas input profiles to estimate the respiration and fermentation kinetics of pear fruit. The optimal input profiles, however, depend on the true values of the respiration and fermentation parameters. Locally optimal design of input profiles, which uses a single initial guess for the parameters, is the traditional method to deal with this issue. This method, however, is very sensitive to the initial values selected for the model parameters. Therefore, we present a robust experimental design approach that can handle uncertainty on the model parameters.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carbon Dioxide / analysis
  • Carbon Dioxide / metabolism
  • Cell Respiration / physiology*
  • Computational Biology
  • Fermentation / physiology*
  • Fruit* / chemistry
  • Fruit* / metabolism
  • Fruit* / physiology
  • Kinetics
  • Models, Biological*
  • Oxygen / analysis
  • Oxygen / metabolism
  • Vegetables* / chemistry
  • Vegetables* / metabolism
  • Vegetables* / physiology

Substances

  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Oxygen

Grants and funding

The authors would like to thank the KU Leuven for financial support of project C16/16/002. AS is a PhD fellow Strategic Basic Research (SB) of the Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders (FWO), project 1S58717N. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.