The use of chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) technique was evaluated on nondestructive measurement of sugar content during fruit development. Multivariate models, principal component analysis (PCA), and partial least-squares regression (PLSR), were developed for the classification and prediction of fructose, glucose, and sucrose in fig fruits. The results of this study showed a significant correlation between fluorescence parameters and sugar content during fruit development. The PCA-ChlF can be used as a fast screening method for discriminating the degree of maturity based on sugar content. In addition, the root mean squared error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination (R²) of PLSR-ChlF for predicting sugar content were 2.01 g 100 g^-1 DW and 0.96 for fructose, 1.03 g 100 g^-1 DW and 0.99 for glucose, and 0.17 g 100 g^-1 DW and 1.00 for sucrose, respectively. Therefore, ChlF combined with chemometrics may be a potential tool to nondestructively evaluate sugar accumulation in not only fig fruits, but also any other chlorophyll-containing fruit during development.

Keywords: Fluorescence parameter, Ficus carica L, maturity, PLSR, Sugar.‎

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