Application of artificial neural network and support vector regression in predicting mass of ber fruits (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) based on fruit axial dimensions

Fruit quality attributes are important factors for designing a market for agricultural goods and commodities. Support vector regression (SVR), MLR, and ANN models were established to predict the mass of ber fruits (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) based on the axial dimensions of the fruit from manual measurements of fruit length, minor fruit diameter, and maximum fruit diameter of four ber cultivars. The precision and accuracy of the established models were assessed given their predicted values. The results revealed that using the validation dataset, the developed ANN (R2 = 0.9771; root mean square error [RMSE] = 1.8479 g) and SVR (R2 = 0.9947; RMSE = 1.8814 g) models produced better results when predicting ber fruit mass than those obtained by the MLR model (R2 = 0.4614; RMSE = 11.3742 g). In estimating ber fruit mass, the established SVR and ANN models produced more precise prediction values than those produced by the MLR model; however, the performance differences between the SVR and ANN models were not clear.