Blue honeysuckle is one of the small fruit crops with high nutritional properties. Significant challenges remain to extract the image feature during field growth, due to the clustering of fruits at different maturity levels, partial occlusion by branches and leaves, as well as highly variable illumination caused by weather and sun angles. Previously, the high mean average precision has been achieved in the single-stage object detection, particularly improved YOLO models with the attention mechanisms, optimal networks of feature extraction, or small-target detection. Strong performance and applicability can also be found to detect the fruit maturity in complex field environments. The YOLO framework also shared robust generalization. However, the existing YOLO models are often highly specific to the growth environment, planting patterns, such as the clustered and dense fruiting, and detection metrics of fruits or vegetables. This specificity has caused the low transferability over different objects, metrics, and requirements. It is often required for the real-time deployment on resource-constrained mobile devices in the field. This study aims to improve the accuracy and precision of maturity identification on blue honeysuckle fruits in field environments. A YOLOv11s-ACM model was also proposed using the YOLOv11s algorithm. 1) The Attention-based Intrascale Feature Interaction module was introduced into the backbone network. The high accuracy was obtained in detecting the blue honeysuckle maturity under field conditions. A globally content-adaptive attention mechanism was incorporated to selectively emphasize the informative features within the same scale. High accuracy was enhanced to detect the blue honeysuckle maturity in the field. 2) C3K2 convolution in the backbone network was replaced with a C3K2 structure with Dynamic Snake Convolution. Residual connections and dynamic feature aggregation were used to adaptively capture elongated structures. The adaptability of the model was improved in the occluded and low-illumination scenes after modification. Thereby, the better performance was enhanced to detect the irregularly shaped fruits of blue honeysuckle in field environments. 3) A Multi-Separated and Enhancement Attention Module Head was introduced to strengthen the dense targets with multi-scale features under field conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the YOLOv11s-ACM achieved a 4.5 percentage point improvement in mean average precision and a 27% reduction in the inference time per image, compared with the baseline YOLOv11s model. Furthermore, compared with the YOLOv5s, YOLOv7-Tiny,YOLOv7,YOLOv8s, YOLOv11n, YOLOv11s, and YOLOv11m, the YOLOv11s-ACM achieved the mAP improvements of 6.0, 5.9, 2.6, 5.8, 12.8, 4.5, and 5.5 percentage points, respectively, indicating significantly enhanced overall performance. Mobile deployment validated that the high accuracy and inference speed fully met the requirements for the rapid and accurate detection of blue honeysuckle fruits under various field conditions, including different lighting scenarios, such as direct sunlight and deep shadows, as well as the occlusion levels ranging from light leaf coverage to heavy branch obstruction. Large-scale real-world datasets can be constructed to further optimize the model adaptability under extreme lighting, severe occlusion, and diverse backgrounds. Additionally, the adaptation and optimization of next-generation YOLO models for mobile terminals can be expected to enhance the model robustness and lightweight deployment in complex environments, ultimately promoting the wide application in modern agriculture.

This study aims to improve the quality of spray-drying Lonicera edulis powder. Maltodextrin, β-cyclodextrin and whey protein were used as the compound additives. A systematic investigation was implemented to clarify the effects of compound additives on the physicochemical properties of spray-drying Lonicera edulis powder. The golden split formulation test was designed as a single-factor test. An analysis was made on the effects of low-temperature air inlet temperature (50-90 °C) on anthocyanin retention rate, powder collection rate, and water content of Lonicera edulis powder. The results show that the powder collection rate was as high as 37.96% in the first golden split formulation test, when the mass ratios of maltodextrin and β-cyclodextrin were 85.4% and 14.6% (test point T₄), respectively. There was an increasing trend in the glass transition temperature (T_g), water solubility index, bulk density, L* value, a* value, and color difference ΔE of Lonicera edulis powder, with the increase in the mass ratio of maltodextrin in the feed solution, while the water content, anthocyanin content, and b* value showed a decreasing trend. A comparison was then made on the physicochemical index of each test point in the first golden split. The test point T₄ was selected for the second golden split formulation test; The highest powder collection rate (40.11%) was achieved, when the ratios of maltodextrin, β-cyclodextrin and whey protein were 72.9%, 12.5%, and 14.6% (test point E₄), respectively. The contents of water and anthocyanin tended to increase in the prepared Lonicera edulis powder, with an increase in the proportion of whey protein in the feed solution, while there was a decrease in the glass transition temperature (T_g), water solubility index, L* value, a* value, b* value and color difference ΔE. A comparison was also made on the physicochemical indexes of single additive T₆ (maltodextrin mass ratio of 100%), T₇ (β-cyclodextrin mass ratio of 100%), E₇ (whey protein mass ratio of 100%), the best composite additives T₄ (in the first golden section), and E₄ (in the second golden section) test points. The composite additives significantly improved the powder collection rate of Lonicera edulis powder via a synergistic effect (P<0.05). The physical and chemical indexes (such as water content, water solubility index, and bulk density) were all close to the optimum level, indicating that the composite additives improved the comprehensive quality of Lonicera edulis powder better than that of a single additive. The additives in the feed solution shared their physical and chemical properties during spray drying and then interacted with each other with the biological activity. The low-temperature spray drying test showed that the powder collection rate and water content were negatively correlated with the increase in inlet air temperature. The test site E₄ presented a high anthocyanin retention rate (89.94%) while maintaining a high powder collection rate at 90^oC. The spectral and proton density images were captured in the Lonicera edulis stock and sample solution at each test site. Additives were added to increase the content of strong bound water, weak bound water and immobile water in the feed and liquid. The freedom of free water was also reduced for the stable hydrate, in order to improve the droplet coalescence resistance, the overall T_g of feed and liquid, and the powder collection rate. The water distribution of the sample solution was much more uniform, while the whole solution was more stable after pretreatment with compound and single additive, which was conducive to the preparation of blue Lonicera edulis powder by spray drying. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis showed that the compound additives formed the intermolecular hydrogen bonds in Lonicera edulis powder, thus protecting the anthocyanins and other active substances. The findings can provide theoretical support and reference for the production of Lonicera edulis spray drying.

Microwave heating is characterized by high speed and controllability, particularly with the strong potential for the thermal processing of food and agricultural products. This review was introduced on the current status of microwave heating applications, from the aspects of technical application, equipment development, and simulation research. The drying, sterilization, extraction and expansion were widely used the microwave heating. Mechanism analysis, process limitations, non-uniform heating and low energy utilization limited the microwave field, such as the polar molecules inside the material. It was lacking in the quantitative characterization of the uneven distribution of temperature and moisture inside the material during microwave heating, The stability of product quality was dominated by the full utilization of energy. The development trend of microwave heating was proposed for food and agricultural products. Microwave transmission and absorption were revealed within the heating chamber. The uniformity and quality of microwave heating greatly contributed to the intelligent industrial equipment of microwave processing. In the scientific, technical and equipment needs of microwave heating, the technological advantages were required to expand the application fields in foodstuffs and agricultural products. Microwave heating trends were proposed in the theoretical research and technological application. A strong reference was provided for the microwave technology in foodstuffs and agricultural products. The uneven microwave drying was attributed to the electromagnetic waves reflecting on the inner wall of the microwave cavity, thus forming a standing wave and an electric field that generated by the incident wave, and finally resulting in a different distribution of electric field intensity. When entering the material inside the microwave cavity, the intensity decayed exponentially, due to its dielectric properties. The state and physical properties of materials (including dielectric properties, thermal properties, size, shape, composition, and moisture content) depended mainly on the microwave volume heat generation and heat transfer, leading to the differences in temperature inside the materials. The combination of electric field distribution and material heat transfer capacity in the microwave cavity resulted in a significant distribution of cold and hot zones in microwave heating, leading to uneven heating and local burning. The interior of the material was covered with cold and hot spots during microwave heating. Cold spots led to insufficient microbial inactivation or bacterial growth in damp areas of the product, thus posing the potential microbial safety. Hot spots led to the deterioration of texture and quality, degradation of thermosensitive components, and a decrease in product quality. In response to the scientific issues, technical requirements, and equipment status of microwave heating in agricultural or food processing, some recommendations were proposed in the technological advantages and application fields. 1) Taking the dielectric and thermal properties of agricultural products or food as the mediators, the transmission, transformation, and distribution of microwave energy inside materials were analyzed to further elucidate the response mechanism on the polar molecules of target components under the microwave field. The theoretical basis was offered to expand the applications, such as targeted heating, non-thermal effects, and starch modification. 2) Effect of non-uniformity of microwave heating on food quality as the common issue, the demand level of microwave energy was investigated to meet the processing requirement in heating uniformity and food quality. The mathematical models of quality indicators were also established as the function of microwave heating parameters. The feedback control was proposed to achieve the control mode of microwave heating with an energy supply on demand. 3) The multiple fields were considered to integrate microwave heating with technology, such as electromagnetics, food chemistry, heat and mass transfer, and control theory. It is very necessary to explore the impact of microwave heating on food material quality. The equipment control strategies can be improved in the theory of food microwave thermal processing.

To improve the heating uniformity of ready-to-eat rice during continuous microwave reheating, the microwave power, heating time, and combination arrangement of ready-to-eat rice were selected as influencing factors, and moisture content, average temperature, and temperature uniformity served as evaluation indexes. The single-factor experimental design was employed to investigate the effects of continuous microwave reheating parameters on the temperature and moisture content distribution inside ready-to-eat rice and obtain the optimal processing parameters under continuous microwave reheating. The results demonstrated that microwave power and heating time had significant effects on the uniformity of temperature distribution inside the arrangement of packaged ready-to-eat rice. The temperature distribution inside the combination arrangement of ready-to-eat rice in the cavity of the continuous microwave dryer showed a clear “corner effect” and “rim overheating” due to the intensity decay of incident microwave contacting the arrangement of ready-to-eat rice. The ready-to-eat rice arranged in four columns had the highest average temperature and uniform temperature distribution. However, the average temperature of the ready-to-eat rice in two columns was relatively low with the non-uniform distribution. The ready-to-eat rice container laid along the width direction of the conveyor belt in the continuous microwave dryer had the obvious uniformity of temperature distribution which is conducive to microwave energy absorption and utilization efficiency. It was appropriate to determine the four-column arrangement of the ready-to-eat rice. The average temperature of ready-to-eat rice increased with microwave power, temperature uniformity initially deteriorated and ultimately dropped with microwave power, and the highest heating uniformity may be achieved at a microwave power of 17.1 kW (19 kW×0.90) with a pulse duty cycle of 0.90. The temperature distribution exhibited a “center focus effect” with an increase of the microwave power, where the conversion point from “corner effect” to “center focus effect” occurred at the microwave power of 16.15 kW (19 kW×0.85) with a pulse duty cycle of 0.85. During the continuous microwave reheating process of ready-to-eat rice, the top, middle, and bottom layers of ready-to-eat rice showed “hot spots” at the corners and “cold spots” at the center, demonstrating a clear “corner effect” under the total heating time in the range of 120-240 s. The “center focus effect” occurs at a total heating duration of 300-360 s. The average temperature gradually increased with the total heating time, and so does the uniformity of temperature distribution. According to the temperature distribution of the ready-to-eat rice’s overall arrangement during a continuous microwave reheating for 300 s, the average temperature of the top layer is the highest at the initial stage of reheating (60 s), the temperature of the middle layer gradually is higher than the top layer at the middle stage of reheating (120-180 s), and the average temperature of the bottom layer remained the lowest throughout the reheating process (0-300 s). According to the temperature distribution in the top, middle, and bottom layers of ready-to-eat rice during the continuous microwave reheating with a total heating period of 300 s, the temperature distribution trend was similar to the distribution of overall arrangement temperature. The color of the water-containing color-changing silica gel was introduced to determine the changing trend in the moisture content of ready-to-eat rice. It was found that the evaporation trends of the moisture in ready-to-eat rice were similar to its temperature distribution under the continuous microwave reheating process. There was a significant phenomenon of high edge temperature and corner thermal focusing in the rectangular rice packaging boxes placed inside the microwave cavity, and a similar distribution also existed in single packaging box. As the increase of pulse duty cycle (microwave power), the depth of microwave transmission into the interior of the rice, and the generation of microwave volumetric heating, the "cold spot" moved towards the center area at gradually falling trend, which improved the uniformity of microwave heating. The arrangement method had little effect on heating uniformity. For boxed rice arranged in 2, 3, and 4 columns in a continuous microwave heating device, the uniformity of rice heating inside the box changed from high to low due to the focusing of microwaves on the edge surface of the boxed rice, attenuation during internal transmission, and the low to high dielectric properties between the boxes and their interior. In order to fully utilize the heating capacity and cavity space size of continuous microwave equipment, the optimal process parameters for ready-to-eat rice under continuous microwave reheating were obtained as microwave power of 17.1 kW (19 kW×0.90) with a pulse duty ratio of 0.90, a heating time of 300 s, and four ready-to-eat rice packaging containers arranged across the width of the conveyor belt of the continuous microwave dryer. The research findings can provide the feasible approaches for reheating cooked-rice food with high quality.