DEVELOPMENT OF A PHOTOGRAPHIC SCALE FOR THE VISUAL EVALUATION OF APPLE STRIPE DENSITY

This research developed a photographic scale for the evaluation of stripe density for 5 apple cultivars (Carousel, 8M-15-10, Fuji, Gala, and Jonagold) using a series of two experiments. In Experiment I, subjects were able to significantly discriminate and reproducibly score the stripe density of apples using unstructured graphic line scales. Photographs of selected apples were then labelled with the corresponding mean scores and used as visual references for Experiment 2. In Experiment 2, subjects reproducibly evaluated the stripe density of apples using structured line scales (anchored with 3 or 5 photographic references), with similar mean scores from the 3- or 5-point scales. Subject differed very little in their variances reflecting the potential usefulness of these line scales for commercial evaluation of apple stripe density in whole apples.