Hyperspectral Classification of Kiwiberry Ripeness for Postharvest Sorting Using PLS-DA and SVM: From Baseline Models to Meta-Inspired Stacked SVM

The accurate and non-destructive assessment of fruit ripeness is essential for post-harvest sorting and quality management. This study evaluated a meta-inspired classification framework integrating partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) with support vector machines (SVMs) trained on latent variables (sSVM) or on class probabilities (pSVM) derived from multiple PLS-DA components. Two kiwi-berry varieties, ‘Geneva’ and ‘Weiki’, were analyzed using variety-specific and combined datasets. Performance was assessed in calibration and prediction using accuracy, F05, Cohen’s kappa, precision, sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios. Conventional PLS-DA provided reasonably good classification, but pSVM models, particularly those with an RBF kernel (pSVM_R), consistently outperformed other approaches and ensured higher stability across all datasets. Unlike sSVMs, which were prone to over-fitting, pSVM_R models achieved the highest accuracy of 92.4–96.9%, Cohen’s kappa of 84.8–93.9%, and precision of 89.1–94.2%, clearly surpassing both score-based SVM and PLS-DA. Contrasting tendencies were observed between cultivars: ‘Geneva’ models improved during prediction, while ‘Weiki’ models declined, especially in specificity. Combined datasets provided greater stability but slightly reduced peak performance than single-variety models. These findings highlight the value of probability-enriched stacking models for non-invasive ripeness discrimination, suggesting that adaptive or hybrid strategies may further enhance generalization across diverse cultivars.