16th International FRUTIC Symposium 2026

Photo: Lietze/ATB

Programme

The FRUTIC Science Symposium is going to be held on Friday, February 6, 2026 between 10:00 a.m. and 03:00 p.m. at the “Farming Forward”-Stage at Messe Berlin. The entire symposium will be conducted in English and is being organised in Cooperation by FRUIT LOGISTICA and Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB). In addition to a continuous series of lectures, the event also offers numerous posters. All contributing scientists will be present on site and pitch their research in five-minute presentations. Afterwards, the researchers are available for questions and discussion.

Presentations

Session 1 - Alliance for Fruit Growing, Viticulture and Vegetable Cultivation

Moderation by Manuela Zude-Sasse

10:00 - 10:15 Sensor-based detection of flower bud development and drought-stress tolerance in fruit trees Henryk Flachowsky
Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), Germany
10:15 - 10:30 The project "AIpruning" – Tree pruning with the aid of Artificial Intelligence Frederik Kurz
Research Center Laimburg, Italy
10:30 - 10:45 Optimizing Postharvest Quality Through Dynamic Controlled Atmosphere Storage Angelo Zanella
Research Center Laimburg, Italy
10:45 - 11:00 Effect of preharvest temperature on shelf life in tomato Nico Tapia Zapata
Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Germany

Session 2 - Hyperspectral Tools and Fruit Quality Prediction

Moderation by Reza Ehsani

11:00 - 11:15 The application of agrivoltaics and netting on yield efficiency, qualitative attributes and secondary metabolism of raspberry George Manganaris
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
11:15 - 11:30 Multispectral and Image Measurement for Monitoring Citrus Growth Atsushi Hashimoto
Mie University, Japan
11:30 - 11:45 Early Detection of Mango Anthracnose Using Hyperspectral Imaging Integrated with Machine Learning Algorithms Norhashila Hashim
Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
11:45 - 12:00 Integrating Hyperspectral Imaging and Regression Models to Predict Loquat Quality at Harvest Jose Blasco
Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), Spain

Section 3 - FruitCREWS

Moderation by Brunella Morandi

12:00 - 12:15 Physiological variables and sensing technology to detect tree water status and its functionality: the synergistic experience of FruitCREWS COST Action Pasquale Losciale
University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Italy
12:15 - 12:30 Aspects influencing the irrigation scheduling in fruit crops Martin Mészáros
Research and Breeding Institute of Fruit Growing Holovousy Ltd, Czech Republique
12:30 - 12:45 Interpreting sensor data with plant models to guide irrigation scheduling in fruit trees Kathy Steppe
Ghent University, Belgium
12:45 - 13:00 Decision-support tools for irrigation of fruit tree crops Alon Ben-Gal
Agricultural Research Organization - Volcani Institute, Isreal

Section 4 - Postharvest Technologies and Quality Optimization

Moderation by Helene Fotouo Makouate

13:00 - 13:15 Autonomous Robotic Platform for Leaf-Level Sensing in Orchard Environments Ehsani Reza
University of California, Merced, United States
13:15 - 13:30 Three ways to utilize ethanol to extend the storage life of fruits Amnon Lichter
Volcani Institute, Israel
13:30 - 13:45 Non-Destructive Classification of Peach Maturity Using NIR Spectroscopy and its Relationship to Chilling Injury Development During Cold Storage Angelos Deltsidis
University of Georgia, United States
13:45 - 14:00 SensorTwin: A multi-parameter sensor node for apple cold storage optimization Tuany Hoffmann
Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Germany

Pitch Presentations

Moderation by José Blasco

14:00 - 14:05 Digital Quality Tracking of Fruits and Vegetables During Dynamic Drying Process Using 3D Point Cloud Imaging Muhammad Tayyab
Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Germany
14:05 - 14:10 FRUIT-GUARD®: Long-Term Chlorophyll Fluorescence Monitoring in Apples under DCA Schlie Tim-Pascal
Fruit Advisory Service of the Altes Land, Germany
14:10 - 14:15 Dynamic Characterization of the Turbulent Pattern Generated by a Quadcopter Drone for Active Agricultural Applications Salcedo Cidoncha Ramon
Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain
14:15 - 14:20 The choice of rootstock affects the daily water consumption of sweet cherry trees Zeymer Luzia
Thüringer Landesamt für Landwirtschaft und Ländlichen Raum, Germany
14:20 - 14:25 Design and Experimental Validation of a Stereo Vision-Based Variable-Rate Spraying System for Plant Protection Robots Zhihong Zhang
Shanghai Institute of Technology, China
14:25 - 14:30 Dynamic Energy Pricing as a Driver for Smarter Cold Storage Management in Pome Fruit: Concept and validation Daniel Alexandre Neuwald
Kompetenzzentrum Obstbau Bodensee, Germany
14:30 - 14:35 Mitigating Spring Frost Damage in Apricots: The Role of Natural Elicitors in Enhancing Stress Tolerance and Improving Fruit Quality Sallom Adnan
Kompetenzzentrum Obstbau Bodensee, Syria
14:35 - 14:40 Cactus pear mucilage as a sustainable coating to preserve plum quality and nutritional value in storage de Candido de Oliveira Fernanda
Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) and KOB, Brasil
14:40 - 14:45 Development and Application of Cost-Effective Proximal Sensing Systems and Mini-UAV Platforms for Precision Viticulture Beghi Roberto
Università degli Studi di Milano – DISAA, Italy
14:45 - 14:50 Development of a dynamic tree structural model for assisting the design of narrow-row planar cordon apple orchards Rojo Francisco
Bioeconomy Science Institute, New Zealand
14:50 - 14:55 Modelling kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) phenology and fruit growth with APSIM Shahidi Niloofar
Bioeconomy Science Institute, New Zealand

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