Recognition of Tomato Fruit Maturity Using

Fuzzy Logic
Joan Baez Dimatira, Elmer P. Dadios, Francisco Culibrina, Jo-Ann Magsumbol, John Dela Cruz,
Kristine Sumage, Mary Tamar Tan, Mike Gomez

De La Salle University
Manila, Philippines

joan_dimatira@dlsu.edu.ph
francisco_culibrina@dlsu.edu.ph
elmer.dadios@dlsu.edu.ph
jo-ann_magsumbol@dlsu.edu.ph
kristine_sumage@dlsu.edu.ph
mary_tan@dlsu.edu.ph
subay_fbc2002@yahoo.com
mary.tamar07@gmail.com

can lower the risk of breast and prostate cancer, osteoporosis

Abstract
The tomato crop (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is of great
importance in the world. It is useful not just for the livelihood it
provides for farmers, but also for its health benefits. The quality
of tomato, like other vegetables, can be characterized by features
such as appearance, texture, safety, flavor and nutritional value.
The appearance is the most important characteristic because it
defines the product’s commercialization value. The tomato’s
good appearance as well as its good quality will only be met if it
reaches its maturity. The researcher used the color, size, and
shape of tomato fruit to determine its appearance and to be the
basis of its maturity. The objective of this study is to recognize
the maturity status of tomato fruit using fuzzy logic. Keywords:
Solanum lycorpersicum L.; fuzzy logic; color, size, shape.
I. INTRODUCTION
The tomato crop (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is of
great importance in the world. It is useful not just for the
livelihood it provides for farmers, but also for its health
benefits. In 2013, tomato production reached 163.9 million
tons and average yield of 34.7 tons per hectare, just enough to
cater the need for tomato. [1].
and it can also cure male infertility.
The quality of tomato, like other vegetables, can be
characterized by features such as appearance, texture, safety,
flavor and nutritional value. The appearance is the most
important characteristic because it defines the product’s
commercialization value [3].
The tomatoes’ good appearance as well as its good
quality will only be met if it reaches its maturity. Tomato
maturity is closely relevant to its surface color, so evaluating
the tomato’s level of maturity by visual recognition is a
feasible mean (Choi et al., 1995; Gejima et al., 2004). Tomato
maturity is divided into six stages: Green stage, breakers
stage, turning stage, pink stage, light red stage and red stage
(USDA, 1991). Moreover, two or three levels of maturity
(matured, half-matured and immature stages) are usually
selected by the existing literatures. [4]
This is why the researcher decided to conduct a study
focusing on the recognition of the maturity of tomatoes.

Tomatoes can be used in many ways. When it is ripe,
it can be consumed fresh or it can be processed into puree,
paste, powder, ketchup (tomato sauce), sauce and soup or
canned as whole fruits. The unripe ones can be pickled or used
for pre- serves. Tomatoes can also be used for medicinal
purposes. Tomato extract can be used as traditional medicine
to treat various diseases in Greece, Peru, Guatemala, and
Japan. The hot water extract of dried fruit can be used to treat
ulcers, wounds, hemorrhoids and burn while tomato poultice
can be used to treat edema during pregnancy. Fresh fruit can
be an aid to digestion and to treat kidney and liver problems.
Tomato is also rich in vitamin C and lycopene. [2] Lycopene
II. VARIETIES OF TOMATO
There are two varieties of tomato, these are
determinate and indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes like
Roma, is referred to as “bush” tomato because they crop all at
once and have compact bushes. They are good for cooking
and canning. On the other hand, Indeterminate tomatoes like
Better Boy or Celebrity, crop all season long. Determinate
tomatoes have compact height and do not last that long while
indeterminate tomatoes grow up to 12 feet and last longer.[5]
Hybrid tomato plants combine two different varieties
of tomato plant to produce a cultivated variety with useful
traits from both its parents. Hybrid tomato plants grow from
seeds that are formed using genetic material from two
different tomato varieties. This is done by transferring the
polen from one plant to receptive flowers on the other plant.
Plants grown from the fruit that is produced from the cross-
pollinated flowers contain beneficial traits from both of the
parent plants. You can produce hybrid tomato plants using
seeds or vegetative propagation. Vegetative propagation is
using a severed part of the hybrid plant to produce a new plant
that is identical to its parent plant.[6]
Fuzzy rule refers to the use of “if-then” or “and” and
“or” statement. But before it can judge a material, it undergoes
a process first.
The figure below shows the process of fuzzy logic
system, wherein the crisp inputs are put in the fuzzifier to
activate the set rules, after that, the defuzzifier will produce
the output

Hybrid tomato varieties have many advantages

compared to open-pollinated varieties. Hybrids usually
produce higher yields and generally mature earlier and more
uniformly. Many hybrids have better fruit quality and disease
resistance. With all of these advantages, many farmers prefer
to sow hybrid seeds in spite of the higher seed costs. [7]

Here in the Philippines, there are three main suppliers *multiple Fuzzy Logic Systems: A controller for the Flexible
of hybrid tomato seeds; they are Candor, Eastwest, and Max.
Pole-Cart Balancing Problem, Elmer P. Dadios and David J.
In relation to this, many farmers are starting to plant hybrid
Williams Manufacturing Engineering Department
tomatoes because of its better taste, faster growth and bigger
productions. Loughborough University of Technology, LE11 3TU, UK .

The researcher preferred using Condor Atlas F1. It is Fuzzy logic will be used to decide whether the
a new hybrid tomato variety that is highly tolerant to the
tomato is matured, half matured, or immature, in terms of its
destructive tomato yellow leaf. It was developed by Allied
Botanical Corp. (ABC), the only fully Filipino vegetable seed color, diameter and shape.
company, at its research and breeding stations. Condor Atlas IV. IMPLEMENTATION
F1 is also noted for its longer harvesting life, high prolificacy,
and adaptability to varying tropical conditions in the country. The appearance of the tomato includes its color, size,
[8] and shape. Each parameter has a basis to tell whether a tomato
is matured or not. This basis can be seen in the tables below.
Table 1 indicates the different characteristics of atlas f1.
Table 2 shows the possible colors of the tomato together with
Variety Color Size Shape its definition.
Atlas (f1) Red Medium Ovate
orange COLOR DESCRIPTION
Green Entirely light to dark green
*production and management of tomato. July 07,2008. Breaker First appearance of external pink, red or
Open academy for phil. Agriculture tarnish-color not more than 10%
http://openacademy.ph/ Turning Over 10%, but not more than 30% red, pink or
tarnish-yellow
III. FUZZY LOGIC SYSTEM Pink Over 30%, but not more than 60%, pinkish or
red
According to S. Ghosh et.al., (1998), Fuzzy Logic is
Light red Over 60%, but not more than 90% red
a decision system approach that works similarly to human
Red Over 90%, red, desirable table ripeness
control logic. It is a useful technique since it uses human
*united states standards for grades of fresh tomatoes, oct. 01,
language to describe inputs and outputs, and provides a simple
1991 (standards)
method for reaching a conclusion from imprecise, vague or
ambiguous input information. Fuzzy-logic systems include a Table 3 shows the size designations of a tomato with its
fuzzy-rule set to define the relationship between the input and corresponding centimeters.
output variables. Furthermore, just a few data samples can
provide quite accurate results.[9]
Size Centimeter INPUT OUTPUT
Designations Minimum Maximum COLOR SIZE SHAPE MATURITY
diameter diameter Light red medium round matured
Small 5.40 cm 5.79 cm Light red medium ovate matured
Medium 5.72 cm 6.43 cm red medium round matured
Large 6.35 cm 7.06 cm red medium ovate matured
Extra large 7.00 cm Light red large round matured
*united states standards for grades of fresh tomatoes, oct. Light red large ovate matured
01, 1991 (standards) red large round matured
The shape of the tomato can be described in the most precise red large ovate matured
and accurate way by finding the ratio of the measured Light red extra-large round matured
equitorial diameter of the fruit to the polar diameter, and Light red extra-large ovate matured
taking it at the right angles to the equitorial. This ratio is
red extra-large round matured
called as “index number”. On the other hand, the term “shape
index” can be defined as: red extra-large ovate matured

𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟
𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 = The next table shows the fuzzy rules in deciding that the
𝑃𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟
tomato is half-matured.
Table 4 refers to the approximate shape index and index
number of tomato.

Shape index Index number INPUT OUTPUT

Round 1.00 COLOR SIZE SHAPE MATURITY
Ovate 0.75 pink medium round half-matured
Oblate 1.15
*Journal of Agricultural Research, Washington D.C. pink large round half-matured
The inheritance of ovate and related shapes of tomato fruits. pink extra-large round half-matured
E. W. Lindstorm pink medium ovate half-matured
pink large ovate half-matured
pink extra-large ovate half-matured
After fuzzifying the inputs, the fuzzy logic will set
rules to determine whether the tomato is matured, half Light red small round half-matured
matured or immature. Light red small ovate half-matured
red small round half-matured
red small ovate half-matured
The table below shows the fuzzy rules in determining the
maturity of tomato The last table shows the fuzzy rules in judging the tomato’s
immaturity.
 in these membership functions came to different study
INPUT OUTPUT
regarding the plant.
COLOR SIZE SHAPE MATURITY
green small round immature
green small oblate immature
green small ovate immature
green medium round immature Figure 2 - Input and Output Membership Functions
green medium oblate immature
green medium ovate immature
green large round immature
green large oblate immature
green large ovate immature
Color
green extra-large round immature
green extra-large oblate immature
green extra-large ovate immature
breaker small round immature
breaker small oblate immature Size

breaker small ovate immature

breaker medium round immature
breaker medium oblate immature
breaker medium ovate immature
Shap
breaker large round immature e
Figure 3- Input Membership Function (Color,
breaker large oblate immature Size, Temperature)
breaker large ovate immature
breaker extra-large round immature
breaker extra-large oblate immature
breaker extra-large ovate immature
turning small round immature
turning small oblate immature Maturity

turning small ovate immature Figure 4- Output Membership Function

(Maturity)
turning medium round immature
V. SIMULATION
turning medium oblate immature
MATHLAB software is used in the simulation of the
turning medium ovate immature Recognition of Tomato Fruit Maturity using Fuzzy Logic.
turning large round immature Mamdami method was applied for the recognition.
turning large oblate immature
turning large ovate immature
turning extra-large round immature
turning extra-large oblate immature
turning extra-large ovate immature
Color vs. Size Color and Shape
Membership Functions

The input membership functions used in this study

are color, size and shape of tomato fruit. The output
membership function is the maturity of its fruit. Values used
Shape vs. Size
Figure 5 - Tomato Fruit Maturity Surface View
 VI. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
The researcher will use the specific variety of tomato
named Atlas F1, a semi-determinate and hybrid type. A
matured Atlas F1 tomato has a characterized to be of red
orange in color, medium in size and ovate in shape.
The results showed that the maturity of the tomato
fruit is more dependent on its color and size than to its shape.
The higher the value of its color and size, the more mature it
is. The color ranged from green, breaker, turning, pink, light
red and red. Starting from color pink to color red, the maturity
gets higher. The size ranged from small, medium, large and
extra-large. The medium size up to extra-large can be
considered as well grown tomato. The shape ranged from
round, ovate and oblate. The acceptable shape of a mature
tomato is round and ovate. This result were made possible
through fuzzy logic.
VII. CONCLUSION
The fuzzy logic system can be used to recognize the
maturity status of the tomato fruit. This study only focused on
the three inputs such as the color, size and shape of the tomato
fruit which is based on theoretical and research values, but
other parameters can also be considered. For future work,
monitoring of maturity can start as early as leafing stage of the
tomato. Through this, not only its maturity can be determined
but its health as well.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors acknowledge all people who helped to
accomplish this study. Joan Baez U. Dimatira acknowledges
some members of the Grace City Church who provide
resources and connection for this paper.
Elmer P. Dadios
Francisco Culibrina
Jo-Ann Magsumbol
John Dela Cruz
Kristine Sumage
Mary Tamar Tan
Mike Gomez
francisco_culibrina@dlsu.edu.ph
elmer.dadios@dlsu.edu.ph
jo-ann_magsumbol@dlsu.edu.ph
kristine_sumage@dlsu.edu.ph
mary_tan@dlsu.edu.ph
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Directorate Agricultural Information Services Department of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Private Bag X144, Pretoria, 0001 South
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[3] Abboud, A.C.S. A study to guide breeding
of new cultivars of organic cherry tomato following a consumer-driven
approach. Food Res. Int., 2013.
[4] Xinzhong Wang*, Hanping Mao, Xu Han and Jianjun Yin, Vision-based
judgment of tomato maturity under growth conditions, 2011.
(5) Robert; Schuler, Hoberley, Growing determinate and indeterminate
tomatoes, Redlands Daily Facts [Redlands, Calif], Mar 17, 2010.
[6] Daniel Thompson, Define Hybrid Tomato Plants, Demand Media.
Homeguides.sfgate.com
[7]-Chen, J.T., Hanson, P., Kalb, T., and Opeña R.T., Hybrid Seed Production
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http://203.64.245.61/web_crops/tomato/seedhybrid.pdf April 11,
2016.
[8] Rudy A. Fernandez, Condor Tomato Atlas, Phil. Star.com, September 13,
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[9] Ehsan Ahvar, Antonio M. Ortiz, Noel Crespi, Improving Decision-Making
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foods
ISSN 2304-8158
www.mdpi.com/journal/foods
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
jacqueline.camolese@empraba.br;
Tel.: +55-75-3312-8149.
Academic Editor: Lucy van de Vijver
Received: 29 May 2015 / Accepted: 6 July 2015 / Published: 10 July 2015