Search Results (171)

Accurate real-time estimation of above-ground biomass is critical for intelligent chilli pepper harvesting. This study proposes CIDR-MobileNet, a lightweight end-to-end framework that addresses the limitations of destructive sampling, reliance on additional depth sensors, and weak regression robustness in existing methods. Pseudo-depth maps are generated from single-view RGB images using Depth Anything V2, providing low-cost structural information without requiring extra hardware. A cross-modal feature interaction module adaptively fuses RGB texture with pseudo-depth geometry, while a multi-branch distribution regression head models AGB prediction as a probabilistic task to improve robustness against occlusion and noise. A ranking loss is also introduced to preserve the relative order of predictions. Validated on 275 in-field chilli pepper samples via ten-fold cross-validation, the model achieves an R² of 0.972, MAE of 174.56 g, RMSE of 230.74 g, and MAPE of 9.56%, with only 3.28 M parameters. Comparative experiments demonstrate that CIDR-MobileNet outperforms mainstream lightweight networks while maintaining high inference efficiency (10.56 ms CPU latency). The method strikes a favourable balance between prediction accuracy, hardware cost, and real-time performance, offering a practical solution for non-destructive biomass monitoring in precision agriculture. Full article

The topito pepper (Capsicum chinense) is a tropical fruit of economic and gastronomic importance in the Caribbean region, valued for its nutritional content. However, this fruit is susceptible to postharvest fungal diseases, including those caused by the phytopathogenic fungus Penicillium expansum, which can degrade fruit quality and pose a health risk due to the potential presence of mycotoxins such as patulin. In this context, we evaluated the protective effects of coatings with chitosan (CS), clove essential oil (CEO), and their combination (CS+CEO) on sweet peppers stored at 12 °C for 12 days after harvest. The results indicate that the film-forming solution exhibited an acidic pH (5.33–5.44), a density of ~1.0 g/cm³, and viscosities ranging from 2.75 to 32.9 cP. Furthermore, the results indicate that coatings with CS and CS+CEO significantly reduced weight loss, preserved firmness (19.12–30.40 N), and delayed ripening. At the same time, the coatings exhibited inhibitory effects on P. expansum and aerobic mesophiles. The CS+CEO combination demonstrated the greatest inhibitory effect, indicating that it is a sustainable and effective strategy for the postharvest preservation of sweet peppers, thereby enhancing their value, preservation, and food security in the Caribbean region. Full article

Tomato, cucumber, and sweet pepper represent the backbone of greenhouse vegetable cultivation. Over recent decades, developments in agronomic practices have been central to improving yield, resource-use efficiency, resilience to abiotic stresses, and product quality. This review synthesizes dispersed evidence on water and nutrient management, cultivar improvement, grafting, canopy management, biological inputs, and postharvest-oriented agronomy, while highlighting that the three crops exhibit markedly different responses to these practices. These responses are primarily driven by crop-specific differences in source–sink balance, root-zone regulation, canopy architecture, reproductive stability, and postharvest metabolic regulation. Tomato typically demonstrates substantial improvements in yield and water use efficiency under optimized fertigation strategies, with canopy management additionally promoting source–sink balance and stress resilience. Cucumber, by contrast, is particularly sensitive to water deficits, salinity, and nutrient imbalances, necessitating stricter control of irrigation and fertilization to maintain stable root-zone water flux and transpiration dynamics. Sweet pepper often exhibits greater physiological complexity, as yield stability is strongly influenced by microclimate-sensitive metabolic and ionic balance, frequently associated with trade-offs in quality, including firmness, color development, and nutritional composition. The success of grafting, microbial inoculants, and biostimulants further varies considerably among crops, reinforcing the need for crop-specific strategies rather than generalized approaches. Postharvest-oriented agronomy, involving the regulation of nutrient supply, harvest timing, and canopy structure, is becoming increasingly important for prolonging shelf life and improving quality in line with market demands. Sustainability-oriented practices, including nutrient recycling and water-saving strategies, additionally contribute to reducing environmental burdens while maintaining profitability. By identifying species-specific physiological constraints and agronomic priorities, this review highlights that crop-customized and physiologically integrated management strategies are essential for improving productivity, resilience, and quality in protected cultivation. Full article

To address the current mismatch between processing pepper cultivars and the requirements of mechanized production, this study aims to construct a comprehensive evaluation model for the suitability of mechanized transplanting and harvesting, thereby screening highly adaptable varieties. An evaluation system comprising eight indicators for the transplanting stage and thirteen indicators for the harvesting stage was established using 105 processing pepper varieties (including 56 erect-fruit and 49 pendent-fruit peppers). Variation analysis, hierarchical clustering, principal component analysis (PCA), and Pearson correlation analysis were integrated to reveal the clustering effects of the cultivars and the synergistic and antagonistic relationships among the indicators. Furthermore, a combined CRITIC–VIKOR model was applied to conduct a multi-criteria comprehensive ranking of mechanization suitability. The results indicated that the biomechanical properties of processing peppers exhibited a significantly higher degree of variation than conventional morphological indicators (e.g., the coefficient of variation for lodging resistance reached 93.60%). Significant differences were observed in the mechanization adaptation mechanisms between the two pepper types: erect-fruit peppers were primarily limited by fruiting branch toughness (weight: 5.907%), whereas pendent-fruit peppers were mainly constrained by fruit morphological uniformity. Compared with the traditional PCA model, the CRITIC–VIKOR model effectively identified varieties with critical biomechanical defects by constraining the “individual regret value”, which highly aligns with Liebig’s Law of the Minimum in mechanized operations. Based on this model, varieties with superior comprehensive mechanization adaptability were successfully identified, notably C21, C55, and C23 (erect-fruit peppers), and D20, D11, and D19 (pendent-fruit peppers). This study provides a theoretical foundation and mathematical modeling support for the directional breeding of mechanization-suitable cultivars, the integration of agronomy and agricultural machinery, and the quantitative evaluation of multi-trait pyramiding in processing peppers. Full article

The load of the elastic tooth drum-type pepper harvester is a key parameter affecting harvesting efficiency and quality. Real-time analysis and prediction of drum load are crucial for stabilizing harvester operation and optimizing performance. Existing research focuses on either machine vision-based image analysis, which is difficult to collect in the field, or parameter-mapping methods, which suffer from time lag. This study proposes a GARCH-KPCA-ATLSTM method for load prediction, combining the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model, kernel principal component analysis (KPCA), and attention-enhanced long short-term memory (ATLSTM). EMD is first applied to denoise and reconstruct the load signal, removing mechanical vibration and other interferences. Conditional heteroskedasticity is confirmed, and the GARCH series (one symmetric and three asymmetric models) is introduced to extract fluctuation features. KPCA reduces dimensionality, removing redundant information and saving 2.91 s in computation while slightly improving accuracy. Additive attention in LSTM emphasizes critical information, enhancing learning of nonlinear relationships and further improving prediction. Comparative experiments demonstrate the model’s reliability. The method achieves RMSE = 0.911, MAE = 0.682, MBE = −0.025, MAPE = 1.147%, R² = 0.968, with a runtime of 2.023 s, confirming high accuracy and stability. This study provides a theoretical and technical foundation for real-time load prediction of pepper harvesters. Full article

To address the challenges of unstable target localization and poor multi-module coordination in automated green pepper harvesting—caused by occlusions from branches and leaves, as well as varying lighting conditions—this paper presents the design and implementation of a modular robotic picking system. At the perception level, the system integrates a YOLOv8 detector with a RealSense D435i camera to identify and locate the calyx–ectocarp junctions of green peppers. An integrated multi-target tracking and filtering framework is proposed, which fuses multi-feature association, trajectory smoothing and coordinate denoising strategies to suppress depth noise and trajectory jitter, thereby enhancing the stability and accuracy of 3D localization. At the control and execution level, a depth-first picking sequence strategy with ID freeze-state management is implemented within a multithreaded software–hardware co-design architecture. This approach avoids task conflicts and duplicate operations while supporting continuous multi-fruit harvesting. Field experiments under natural outdoor lighting and varying occlusion levels demonstrate that the proposed system achieves recognition rates of 91.57% and 80.29% and harvesting success rates of 82.85% and 77.68% for non-occluded and lightly occluded fruits, respectively. The average picking cycle per pepper fruit is 9.8 s. This system provides an effective technical solution for addressing stability control challenges in the automated harvesting process of green peppers. Full article

The accumulation dynamics and regulatory mechanisms of the alkylamides, the key pungent compounds in the fruits of Sichuan peppers, remain poorly understood. Using fruits of the Zanthoxylum planispinum var. dintanensis (Dintan) harvested at five key developmental stages, we comprehensively mapped the accumulation of numbering compounds and their underlying molecular drivers by integrating HPLC-based metabolite profiling and de novo transcriptomics. Total alkylamide content increased during development, with hydroxyl-α-sanshool (HαSS) being predominant. The contributions of hydroxyl-β-sanshool (HβSS) and hydroxyl-ε-sanshool (HεSS) increased in later stages. Cluster and correlation analyses identified 51 candidate genes strongly correlated (|r| ≥ 0.6) with HαSS accumulation, predominantly enriched in fatty acid and branched-chain amino acid metabolism pathways. The expression patterns of five stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) genes, one long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase (ACSL/fadD), and one S-(hydroxymethyl)glutathione dehydrogenase/alcohol dehydrogenase (frmA) gene closely mirrored HαSS accumulation. In contrast, 3-oxoacyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] synthase II (fabF) and one β-ketoacyl-CoA synthase (KCS) gene exhibited a negative correlation. Accordingly, a positive regulatory network was constructed for HαSS accumulation. These findings revealed key candidate targets for deciphering the molecular basis of its unique flavor and for breeding high-pungency cultivars. Full article

Drying chili peppers is a crucial technique for their preservation, as it extends shelf life while minimizing the degradation of high-value bioactive compounds. This study evaluated the impact of modulated solar irradiation on the drying kinetics and quality retention of “Chile de Agua” (Capsicum annuum L.) peppers across three maturity stages (unripe, ripe, and overripe). Two cylindrical solar dryers were employed: a conventional solar dryer (CSD) and a novel Solar Dryer with Dynamic Irradiance Control (SDIC) utilizing Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) technology. Drying behavior was analyzed through moisture ratio and drying rate, while quality attributes were assessed via color parameters, capsaicinoid content, and flavonoid profiling using UPLC-PDA-ESI-MS. Results demonstrated that the maturity stage significantly influences drying kinetics; unripe fruits exhibited the fastest dehydration rate, reducing drying time by approximately 14% compared to overripe fruits. Regarding quality, the CSD better preserved color (ΔE of 15.29 for ripe chilies). At the same time, the SDIC system significantly favored the retention of bioactive compounds, maintaining higher concentrations of total capsaicinoids (up to 1700 µg/g DW) and flavonoids such as luteolin (15.9 mg/100 g DW) and quercitrin (11.5 mg/100 g DW), especially in ripe fruits. The findings suggest that optimal processing requires selecting the drying method based on the targeted final use: CSD for color preservation in unripe chilies, or SDIC for maximizing bioactive retention in ripe fruits. Full article

Seven disease control products produced at a grapevine farm in Mała Wieś (Masovian County, Poland) were tested and compared with standard chemical control and no control. The following substances were used as disease control agents: lavender, lemon, and orange oils; Saccharomyces cerevisiae HDT18 yeast fermentation liquid; mint; and Habanero Orange hot pepper decoction. Results were compared with treatments using standard fungicides, a control without control, and two commercial products containing tansy extract and chili and garlic extract. The tested products were generally less effective in protecting against fungal diseases than the standard chemical control. However, they improved total yield, yield used for vinification, total acidity, sugar content, and pH of harvested grapes compared to untreated grapes. Our own preparations (HDT-18, lemon oil, mint decoction, and hot pepper) reduced total yields and simultaneously reduced the number of grapes infected with diseases, which is particularly important in mechanical harvesting without sorting. Must parameters (sugar, pH, TA) enabled wine production from each of the experimental combinations tested. These approaches may be useful in organic farming programs in cold climates. Although they may reduce total yields, they also reduce the number of grapes unsuitable for vinification. Full article

Background/Objectives: The quality of dried chili peppers is critically influenced by geographical origin, yet the metabolic basis for these differences remains insufficiently explored. This study sought to elucidate the region-specific metabolic profiles and their association with key quality traits in the pepper cultivar ‘Hong Guan 6’. Methods: Fruits harvested from three major cultivation regions in China were analyzed. We quantified fat and capsaicinoid content and employed an integrated LC-MS and GC-MS untargeted metabolomics approach to characterize the metabolite composition. Multivariate statistical analyses were applied to identify differentially abundant metabolites (DAMs) and uncover their related biochemical pathways. Results: Significant regional variations in fat and capsaicinoid content were observed, with peppers from Pengzhou (PZ) exhibiting the highest capsaicin levels. Metabolomic profiling revealed 529 metabolites that were significantly more abundant in PZ samples. These metabolites were enriched in several key pathways, including beta-alanine metabolism, plant hormone signal transduction, and N-glycan biosynthesis. Specifically, elevated levels of β-alanine and malonate in the beta-alanine metabolism pathway were detected in PZ and Anyue (AY) samples, suggesting a potential biochemical mechanism for their enhanced fat synthesis. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that geographical origin significantly reprograms the pepper metabolome, directly impacting quality attributes. The results provide crucial insights into the biochemical mechanisms, particularly those involving beta-alanine metabolism, that underpin the differences in critical quality traits such as fat content. Full article

Water scarcity and inefficient irrigation practices are major challenges for modern protected agriculture systems. This study designs, implements, and experimentally validates a neural network-based irrigation control strategy in an industrial programmable logic controller (PLC) for a drip irrigation system operating in a laboratory-scale micro-tunnel greenhouse. The objective is to evaluate the real-time performance of an intelligent controller under practical operating conditions and to quantify its impact on water use efficiency and crop growth compared to a conventional on–off strategy. The neural network is trained using 1039 data samples, divided into training (70%), validation (15%), and test (15%) datasets, and is implemented in the PLC to regulate soil moisture through a proportional valve. Experimental validation is carried out over 67 days using a serrano chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) crop. Both controllers operate simultaneously under identical environmental and operating conditions. Performance is evaluated using soil moisture stability metrics, including mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and standard error (SE), water consumption, and crop growth indicators prior to harvest. Results show that the neural network controller achieves higher soil moisture regulation accuracy (MSE = 3.2159%, MAE = 0.7560%, SE = 0.00001687%) and reduces the average daily water consumption per plant by 50.18% compared with the on–off controller. In addition, the absolute growth rate increases by 26.42%, with statistically significant differences. These results demonstrate that neural network-based control can be effectively implemented on industrial hardware and provide tangible benefits for water-efficient and precision irrigation systems. Full article

Brown Jalapeno peppers (BPs) are accidentally harvested and discarded at different points of the postharvest handling and processing lines because they are not visually attractive to consumers. Water-, chelator-, and alkali-soluble pectins (WSP, CSP, and NSP) were extracted from raw and heat-treated BPs and evaluated for basic physicochemical properties. Heat treatment increased the yield of WSP with the concomitant decrease in CSP and NSP. The extracted pectins were classified as low-methoxyl pectins, as only CSP from raw peppers showed a degree of methyl esterification slightly above 50%. Heat treatment decreased (13.5–86.2%) the molecular weight of the most abundant fraction in all pectins. It also decreased the degree of methyl esterification and Gal and Man contents in all pectins. The viscosity of WSP solutions decreased (28–41%) with heat treatment. Heat treatment negatively affected the color of pectin. Full article

Pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) is a globally important vegetable crop whose fruit glossiness serves as a key quality trait influencing consumer preference and market value. This review summarizes the measurement methods, influencing factors, and molecular regulatory mechanisms of pepper fruit surface glossiness, as well as the correlation between post-harvest changes in carotenoid content and fruit surface glossiness, aiming to provide references for the molecular breeding of high-gloss pepper cultivars. Pepper fruit glossiness is primarily determined by cuticle structure and composition. The content and arrangement of cuticular crystals significantly affect the specular reflection and diffuse reflection on the fruit surface. The ordered arrangement of long-chain alkanes enhances the anisotropy of specular highlights, reduces the contrast of diffuse reflection, and forms a high-gloss surface. In contrast, the imbalance of wax components or disordered accumulation of crystals leads to increased light scattering, resulting in a matte phenotype. Furthermore, carotenoid content strongly correlates with L*, a*, and b*, critically influencing fruit color intensity and hue. Currently, there are still several issues in the research on pepper glossiness, including the lack of standardized measurement methods, unclear gene regulatory networks, and unknown pathways related to post-harvest gloss maintenance and environmental responses. In the future, we should promote the combination of multiple technologies to establish unified measurement standards; integrate multi-omics to identify key genes; develop targeted preservation technologies based on the law of fruit gloss degradation; and breed pepper cultivars with high glossiness and good storage performance. Full article

As the only harvest organ of pepper, fruit size is an important yield determinant. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying pepper fruit size, we performed histological, physiological, and transcriptomic analyses on the pepper varieties QB6 (large fruit) and CXJ82 (small fruit). High contents of auxin and cytokinin in the early stage of fruit development promoted the rapid division of fruit cells in both varieties, which provided sufficient cells for subsequent fruit enlargement. High gibberellin accumulation induced the elongation and expansion of QB6 pericarp cells. Transcriptome analysis showed that genes related to cell division, cell wall polysaccharide degradation, and photosynthesis were highly expressed in QB6 fruit, likely contributing to its larger size. In the hormone–signal transduction factor–gene interaction network, GID6, GID1, IAA12, MYC30, and SAUR36 exhibited high correlations with numerous genes related to cell division, the cell wall, and photosynthesis, emerging as key signal transduction factors for the hormone-mediated regulation of pepper fruit size. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified the transcription factors OFP20, HD-ZIP6, and HD-ZIP13 as fundamental for pepper fruit size regulation. Our results expand the understanding of hormone regulation of pepper fruit size, providing a foundation for the breeding and improvement of excellent pepper varieties. Full article

Pelagic Sargassum impacts the Caribbean and West Africa since 2011, disrupting economies and bringing major environmental, social, and health concerns. Avenues explored to valorise this biomass include the production of liquid biofertilisers and biostimulants. There has been less emphasis on the production of compost and mulch, and on their impact on plant growth. Therefore, the effects of compost and mulch prepared from rinsed and unrinsed Sargassum on corn, tomato, and pepper were investigated in this study. The elemental composition of soil, compost, mulch, and plant samples was also assessed to investigate the potential transfer of metals and metalloids from the compost and mulch to different parts of the plants (roots, leaves, and fruits). Sargassum-derived composts exhibited less effects on seed germination compared to mulch. Significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) between treatments were observed for seedling growth parameters (height, shoot diameter, and number of leaves). Post-harvest parameters were mixed with the leaf area index and the root-to-shoot ratios varied significantly between treatments but not moisture content. Variations in elemental concentrations were observed between the different parts of the plants and evaluated against established nutritional recommendations and toxicity thresholds. This study provides foundational insights for optimising pelagic Sargassum-based compost and mulch preparation to support plant growth. Full article