'Braeburn' apples are susceptible to internal browning disorders when stored under controlled atmosphere (CA) conditions with unfavorable gas compositions. The progression of CA-related disorders in apple tissues is dynamic, noting a decrease in porosity during early storage due to cellular breakdown and pore flooding, and an increase in porosity in later stages due to structural collapse and cavity formation. Utilizing grating-based X-ray dark-field radiography, which leverages X-ray small-angle scattering to detect microstructural changes below the pixel scale, this study assesses the technique's efficacy in identifying internal disorders in 'Braeburn' apples at both early and later stages. A machine learning approach was applied to compare the diagnostic capabilities of dark-field imaging with those of X-ray absorption radiography at identical image resolutions. Results indicate that for early-stage disordered fruit detection, X-ray dark field radiography is 10 % more accurate than absorption radiography, regardless of the machine learning classifiers that were applied. In the later stage of browning, dark-field imaging performs similarly to absorption imaging. High-resolution micro-computed tomography scans suggested that the distinct detection performance of dark-field imaging may be attributed to the more pronounced microstructural differences between healthy and early-stage defective tissues than those between healthy and later-stage defective tissues. The insights from this work will guide the application of X-ray dark-field systems in fruit quality assurance, particularly in detecting internal disorders.

中文翻译：

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通过 X 射线暗场成像和机器学习对“Braeburn”苹果果实进行无损内部疾病检测


当储存在含有不利气体成分的受控气氛 (CA) 条件下时，“Braeburn”苹果容易发生内部褐变疾病。苹果组织中与CA相关的疾病的进展是动态的，值得注意的是，在早期储存期间，由于细胞破裂和孔隙泛滥，孔隙率降低，而在后期阶段，由于结构塌陷和空腔形成，孔隙率增加。本研究利用基于光栅的 X 射线暗场射线照相技术，利用 X 射线小角度散射来检测像素尺度以下的微观结构变化，评估该技术在识别“Braeburn”苹果早期和后期内部疾病方面的功效阶段。应用机器学习方法来比较暗场成像与相同图像分辨率下的 X 射线吸收射线照相的诊断能力。结果表明，对于早期无序水果检测，无论应用何种机器学习分类器，X 射线暗场射线照相都比吸收射线照相准确 10%。在褐变的后期，暗场成像的表现与吸收成像类似。高分辨率微型计算机断层扫描表明，暗场成像的独特检测性能可能归因于健康和早期缺陷组织之间的微观结构差异比健康和晚期缺陷组织之间的微观结构差异更明显。这项工作的见解将指导 X 射线暗场系统在水果质量保证中的应用，特别是在检测内部疾病方面。