Fruits, essential in human nutrition, go through many stages until they reach the consumption stage. Brıise may occur on the fruit during loading, unloading, and processing. One of the options applied to prevent bruises to fruits throughout the supply chain is to package cushioning materials. This study investigated the number of bruises caused by applying impact energies to the covered and uncoated (bare) persimmon fruits with foam net material. Impact energy applications were carried out with the developed pendulum impact test setup. Dynamic loadings at different impact energy levels, low (0.03 J), medium (0.06 J), and high energy (0.11 J) were applied to three other regions of persimmon fruits (blossom side, lateral diameter, and stem side). Statistical analysis showed that the effect of impact energy on bruise volume was significant (p < 0.01). The study found a linear relationship between bruising volume on persimmons and impact energy. According to the experiment results, it was determined that the bruise volume values of persimmons with foam net used as cushioning material were significantly less than the bare persimmons. As a result of the applied impact energies, it was determined that the average bruise volume of the persimmons was 225.74 mm 3 in the bare ones and 21.29 mm 3 in the ones covered with foam net. It was also revealed that the blossom side of the persimmon was the most sensitive to impact energy, and the lateral diameter side was the most durable. Practical ApplicationsMechanical bruises to fruits and vegetables during post-harvest processing can be significant. Bruise-sensitive fruits such as persimmon increase the size of bruises due to falling from height during filling and unloading. Understanding where and how large the bruising effects caused by impact energies are can help reduce fruit bruises.Packaging practices, which are ways to prevent fruit bruising, play an important role in prolonging the shelf life of the fruit and reducing the risk of physical bruising. In the study, the effect of the cushioning material on the prevention of the size of bruises caused by the impact energy effect on the persimmon fruit was investigated.It is aimed to compare the bruise amount of foam-coated and non-foam-coated persimmon fruits by considering the fruit regions in the applications performed with the pendulum test setup.

The aim of this study is to find out the factors affecting mechanical bruising of peach and to develop a model for the prediction of the bruise that occurs in peach in harvest and post‐harvest processes. For this purpose, experiments were carried out with Redhaven, Glohaven, and Dixired peach varieties. The peaches were harvested in three different periods. Researches on experiment materials were carried out after storing in two different environments, room temperature and cold storage conditions. In the study, pendulum impact test setup was used to create different degrees of bruise on peaches. Regression models were created with “Multiple Linear Regression” analysis to prediction the amount of bruise volume by using impact energy, maximum contact force, radius of curvature, and Magness–Taylor force factors obtained based on the measurement and calculation results. As a result, it was found that all of the multiple linear regression models created for the prediction of bruising in peach fruit were statistically significant (p ≤.01). Practical Applications Damages in fruits cause quality loss in the product. Mechanical damage can occur at many different stages, such as during the harvesting and postharvest processing of the material, or during manual handling. Peach fruit is sensitive to different types of damage that may occur during and after harvest. In this study, models were developed for the prediction of fruit damage by working on some peach cultivars. With the study, suggestions were made for the prevention of damage to the peach during harvest and postharvest processes. In addition, in the light of the information obtained, it will provide a reference for the improvement of systems and designs used or to be installed for harvest and postharvest processing of peach fruit.

In the study, rupture energy values of Deveci and Abate Fetel pear fruits were predicted using artificial neural network (ANN). This research aimed to develop a simple, accurate, rapid, and economic model for harvest/post-harvest loss of efficiently predicting rupture energy values of Deveci and Abate Fetel pear fruits. The breaking energy of the pears was examined in terms of storage time and loading position. The experiments were carried out in two stages, with samples kept in cold storage immediately after harvest and 30 days later. Rupture energy values were estimated using four different single and multi-layer ANN models. Four different model results obtained using Levenberg–Marquardt, Scaled Conjugate Gradient, and resilient backpropagation training algorithms were compared with the calculated values. Statistical parameters such as R2, RMSE, MAE, and MSE were used to evaluate the performance of the methods. The best-performing model was obtained in network structure 5-1 that used three inputs: the highest R2 value (0.90) and the lowest square of the root error (0.018), and the MAE (0.093).

The present study examines the mechanical behavior of 'Deveci' pear cultivar produced in Turkey in terms of harvesting periods. Penetration tests were applied to the determined sides (bloom side, lateral side and stem side) of pear fruit harvested on three different maturation dates (October 5-15-25). According to the test results, it was found that harvesting period had different effects on mechanical properties of pears. Decrease was found in rupture force, rupture energy, deformation and firmness values of pears as the harvest date progressed. Rupture force values were as 52.69, 45.56 and 41.95 N in the first, second and third harvesting dates, respectively. Deformation was 5.57 in the first harvesting date and as 5.12 mm in the third harvesting date. The present study showed that firmness values of mature pear fruit were less. Firmness value was 9.59 N/mm in the first harvesting date and 8.09 N/mm in the third harvesting date. The highest firmness value was found on the stem side of pears.

Mechanical properties provide information to design and develop suitable machines (equipment) for processing, transporting, and conveying chestnuts. Four chestnut cultivars that have not been studied before were investigated in the study carried out for this purpose. Some engineering properties of Macit 55, Akyüz, Ali Nihat, and Bouche de Betizac chestnut cultivars were determined and compared. The mechanical properties were determined by rupture force, rupture energy, deformation, and firmness values. The friction coefficients of chestnut varieties on a galvanized sheet, stainless steel, and rubber surfaces were investigated. Mechanical properties were determined using a Universal Testing Machine. The values obtained from the samples were obtained by compression between the parallel plate along the X, Y, and Z axes. For the static friction coefficient, while the galvanized sheet surface had the lowest value (0.145), the rubber surface had the highest value (0.212). For rupture forces, the force required to break the chestnut at the Z loading axis position (714.09 N) was higher than the required force at the Y loading axis position (396.35 N) of the fruit.