Saffron Agronomy and Technology

In collaboration Iranian Medicinal Plants Society

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

Editorial Board

Publication Ethics

Indexing and Abstracting

Related Links

FAQ

Peer Review Process

Journal Metrics

News

Journal Forms

Guide for Authors

Modelling the Chemical and Microbial Changes of Saffron Flower during Storage Using Artificial Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithm

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Agricultural Engineering Research Department, Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Mashhad

2 PhD Student, Department of Food Science and Technology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad

Abstract

Saffron, as the most expensive agricultural and pharmaceutical product of the world, has a special value among plants. Since the Saffron harvesting period is short, its storage for later processing requires understanding the most effective factors affecting the quality of saffron and its deterioration. Therefore the effects of reposition thickness, storage temperature and storage time of saffron flowers on its chemical parameters including crocin, safranal and picrocrocin values of saffron stigma and its microbial quality indicators including total count, coliform and mold contamination were modelled. This was done using multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network (ANN) and its structure and the learning parameters were optimized using genetic algorithm technique. The optimized MLP neural networkwas capable to predict the saffron quality characteristics during storage with coefficient of determinations higher than %94 and low error values (RMSE lower than 3.5 for all responses). The ANN model showed that reposition thickness has the lowest impact on chemical and microbial parameters deterioration while increasing storage temperature and time drastically increased loss of quality although the effect of storage time is lower than that of storage temperature.  Overall, keeping fresh saffron flowers at a low temperature near zero degrees centigrade is necessary for maximum retention of valuable chemical compounds and minimum microbial contamination development during saffron flower storage for further processing.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References
Ahmad, S., Tahir, I., and Shahri, W. 2013. Effect of different storage treatments on physiology and‎ postharvest performance in cut scapes of three Iris species. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology 15 (2): 323-332.
Alonso, G.L., VarÕN, R., Gomez, R., Navarro, F., and Salinas, M.R. 1990. Auto-oxidation in Saffron at 40°C and 75% Relative Humidity. Journal of Food Science 55 (2): 595-596.
Amirghasemi, T. 2001. Saffron, Red Gold of Iran. Ayandegan Publication, Tehran.
Bolandi, M., Shahidi, F., Sedaghat, N., Farhoush, R., and Mousavi-nik, H. 2008. Shelf-life determination of saffron stigma: Water activity and temperature studies. World Applied Sciences Journal 5 (2): 132-136.
Cevallos, J.-C., and Reid, M.S. 2001. Effect of dry and wet storage at different temperatures on the vase life of cut flowers. Hort Technology 11 (2): 199-202.
Cook, D.F., Ragsdale, C.T., and Major, R.L. 2000. Combining a neural network with a genetic algorithm for process parameter optimization. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 13 (4): 391-396.
Da Silva Vieira, M.R., de Medeiros, D.C., Costa, P.N., Santos, C.M.G., de Alencar Paes, R., de Sousa Fernandez, L.M., de Oliveira, N.G., Allan, A., and Silva, F. 2012. Effect of refrigeration on post-harvest flowers. African Journal of Biotechnology 11 (67): 13065-13068.
Ferentinos, K.P. 2005. Biological engineering applications of feedforward neural networks designed and parameterized by genetic algorithms. Neural Networks 18 (7): 934-950.
ISIRI. 2008. Microbiology of Saffron –Specification (5689). Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
ISO. 1993. Saffron (Crocus sativus L.). The International Organisation for Standardisation, Switzerland.
Izadifar, M., and Jahromi, M.Z. 2007. Application of genetic algorithm for optimization of vegetable oil hydrogenation process. Journal of Food Engineering 78 (1): 1-8.
Joyce, D.C., and Shorter, A.J. 2000. Long term, low temperature storage injures kangaroo paw cut flowers. Postharvest Biology and Technology 20 (2): 203-206.
Lefebvre, C., and Principe, J. 2005. Neuro Solutions. Neuro Dimension, Inc.
Lutz, H.E.W. 1930. Picrocrocin, the bitter principle of safran. Biochemistry 226 (97): 25.
Ministry of Agriculture Jihad. 2014. Agricultural Statistics. Department of Economic Development and Planning of Statistics and Information Technology, Thran, Iran.
Mohebbi, M., Shahidi, F., Fathi, M., Ehtiati, A., and Noshad, M. 2011. Prediction of moisture content in pre-osmosed and ultrasounded dried banana using genetic algorithm and neural network. Food and Bioproducts Processing 89 (4): 362-366.
Molina, R.V., Valero, M., Navarro, Y., Guardiola, J.L., and García-Luis, A. 2005. Temperature effects on flower formation in saffron (Crocus sativus L.). Scientia Horticulturae 103 (3): 361-379.
Nazghelichi, T., Aghbashlo, M., and Kianmehr, M.H. 2011. Optimization of an artificial neural network topology using coupled response surface methodology and genetic algorithm for fluidized bed drying. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 75 (1): 84-91.
Nowak, J., and Rudnicki, R.M. 1990. Postharvest Handling and Storage of Cut Flowers, Florist Greens, and Potted Plants. Timber Press, Portland.
Pellegrini, M., and Bellé, R. 2008. O que você precisa saber sobre pós-colheita de flores. Revista Campos and Negócios, Uberlândia 5 (69): 41-42.
Raina, B.L., Agarwal, S.G., Bhatia, A.K., and Gaur, G.S. 1996. Changes in pigments and volatiles of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) during processing and storage. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 71 (1): 27-32.
Shekarchizadeh, H., Tikani, R., and Kadivar, M. 2014. Optimization of cocoa butter analog synthesis variables using neural networks and genetic algorithm. Journal of food science and technology 51 (9): 2099-2105.
Tarantilis, P.A., Polissiou, M., and Manfait, M. 1994. Separation of picrocrocin, cis-trans-crocins and safranal of saffron using high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode-array detection. Journal of Chromatography A 664 (1): 55-61.
Turhan, H., Kahriman, F., Egesel, C.O., and Gul, M.K. 2008. The effects of different growing media on flowering and corm formation of saffron (Crocus sativus L.). African Journal of Biotechnology 6 (20): 2328-2332.
Van Doorn, W.G., and Han, S.S. 2011. Postharvest quality of cut lily flowers. Postharvest Biology and Technology 62 (1): 1-6.
Xie, G., Xiong, R., and Church, I. 1998. Comparison of kinetics, neural network and fuzzy logic in modelling texture changes of dry peas in long time cooking. LWT - Food Science and Technology 31 (7–8): 639-647.
Saffron Agronomy and Technology
Volume 4, Issue 4 - Serial Number 14
January 2017
Pages 279-289
Files
Share
How to cite
Statistics