Jasmine Flower Color Degradation User-Coded Computer Vision Image Analysis Tool and Kinetics Modeling

Jasmine (Jasminum sambac (L.) Ait.) flowers, valued for their fragrance and essential oils, are extensively used in the flavor, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. However, their useful life is short due to rapid color degradation and browning caused by photo-oxidative stress induced by environmental factors like light, temperature, and humidity. Therefore, the significant reduction in the visual appeal, quality, and economic value necessitates the measurement of temporal color degradation to evaluate the shelf life for jasmine flowers. A developed open-source ImageJ plugin program quantified the color degradation of jasmine petals and pedicles over 25 h. Petal area (>19 mm2) cutoff separated the pedicles. Color degradation kinetics models, including zeroth-order, first-order, exponential decay, Page, and Peleg, using several color indices, were developed, and their performances were evaluated. VEG, hue, chroma, COM, and CIVE color indices were found suitable for kinetics modeling. Peleg and Page models (R2≥0.99) are suitable for petals and pedicles, respectively. Jasmine petals retained their color integrity for longer periods than pedicles. This study underscores the potential of computer vision analysis and kinetic modeling for evaluating flower quality after harvest. The color degradation dynamics were accurately characterized by the kinetic models, which provide actionable insights for optimizing storage and handling practices.