Thermal conductivity measurement technique vis-a-vis quality of fruit

A simple probe for thermal conductivity measurement was developed in-house that was cheap, compact, easy-to-handle, required less time and small amoun t of sample for measurement. The thermal conductivities of fruits (banana, apple and papaya) were measured. Bananas of three different stages of ripen ing (unripe, ripe and over ripe) were selected and their conductivities wer e found to be 0.485, 0.51 and 0.524 W/m degreesC, respectively. Textures of these samples were determined using a Texturometer, which showed that as t he degree of ripening increased, the texture of fruit became soft and the c onductivity increased. A correlation between degree of maturity, conductivi ty and texture of banana was observed and this could be extended to other f ruits and vegetables.