Mojtaba Naderi-Boldaji - Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord ۸۸۱۸۶-۳۴۱۴۱, PO. Box ۱۱۵, Iran
Mahdi Ghasemi-Varnamkhasti - Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord ۸۸۱۸۶-۳۴۱۴۱, PO. Box ۱۱۵, Iran
Milad Fazeliyan-Dehkordi - Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord ۸۸۱۸۶-۳۴۱۴۱, PO. Box ۱۱۵, Iran
Seyed Ahmad Mireei - Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan ۸۴۱۵۶-۸۳۱۱۱, Iran

A dielectric sensing technique was evaluated for the non-destructive measurement of sugarcane quality in terms of commercial cane sugar (CCS). Measurements were made by a parallel plate capacitance sensor supplied by a function generator and monitored by a spectrum analyzer. The consumed power of the capacitance sensor was recorded as a function of frequency swept between 0-10 MHz as the dielectric power spectral data. 79 sugarcane internode samples from four commercial cultivars were first measured by the dielectric sensor and then analyzed for CCS in the laboratory. The sugarcane CCS ranged within 6-15% was precisely predicted by a multiple linear regression model from the dielectric power spectral data with RMSE and R2 of 0.32% and 0.98, respectively. The technique evaluated here showed a great potential for the non-destructive monitoring of sugarcane quality.

Sugarcane quality, Commercial cane sugar, Non-destructive, Dielectric