Non-Invasive Disease Stage Classification of Bitter Rot in Fruits Using Optical Coherence Tomography and Intensity-Based Image Analysis

Plant disease has a tremendous impact on global food security, and bitter rot caused by Colletotrichum spp. is a greater challenge to post-harvest quality. Conventional diagnosis is precise but invasive and therefore inappropriate for real-time purposes. This study investigates optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a high-resolution, non-invasive imaging method to detect internal structural changes from disease progression. The developed OCT-based image analysis framework stages diseases by assessing morphological degradation. The discovery of unique oval-shaped internal features, invisible to other non-invasive methods, demonstrates OCT’s potential for early detection, accurate monitoring, and real-time application in precision agriculture.