Detecting rottenness caused by Penicillium genus fungi in citrus fruits using machine learning techniques

► We use machine learning for fungi infestation detection in citrus. ► A hyperspectral imaging system has been used for image acquisition. ► The proposed methodology can be used for early fungi detection. ► Artificial Neural Networks has reached the best results. Penicillium fungi are among the main defects that may affect the commercialization of citrus fruits. Economic losses in fruit production may become enormous if an early detection of that kind of fungi is not carried out. That early detection is usually based either on UltraViolet light carried out manually. This work presents a new approach based on hyperspectral imagery for defect segmentation. Both the physical device and the data processing (geometric corrections and band selection) are presented. Achieved results using classifiers based on Artificial Neural Networks and Decision Trees show an accuracy around 98%; it shows up the suitability of the proposed approach.