California grows the majority of U.S. avocados, but you may not know Hawaiʻi is third on the production list behind Florida. Local farmers grow about 3% of avocados nationwide.
Hawaiʻi has over 200 varieties of avocados. Which ones are you eating? Locally, the cash crop and most exported avocados belong to the Sharwil variety.
Following a fruit fly scare that began in the 1990s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided in 2013 that only Sharwil avocados could be transported to the continent without a mandatory quarantine. Growers usually tell them apart by looking at their physical characteristics.
Pei Liang, a research agricultural engineer at the USDA Agricultural Research Station in Hilo, figured out how to distinguish Sharwil avocados using a handheld device that many growers have.
Liang utilized near-infrared spectroscopy, which is already used to detect when avocados are ready for harvest.
"Near-infrared spectroscopy is specifically to look at biochemical composition of your samples," Liang said. "So near-infrared is outside of visible light. So it's not a light that we can see with our eyes. It's just beyond red, and this region of light specifically interacts with different chemical compounds."
"Even with a handheld spectrometer, we still have over 95% accuracy in telling Sharwill apart from three or four other varieties that we included," she added.
Liang said current spectroscopy methods used by avocado growers to determine the maturity of their produce are meant for Hass avocados. She is working on adapting the technology for the Sharwil variety.
To learn more about Liang's research, click here.
This interview aired on The Conversation on July 2, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
