Application note: OptiPa, an essential primer to develop models in the postharvest area

This research note describes a software tool to develop and calibrate mathematical models in the area of postharvest biology and technology. Historically this has been the territory of mathematicians and statisticians. However, as the applied researchers are the ones holding most of the expertise regarding postharvest product physiology there is a need to stimulate these researchers to develop their own physiology based models. Therefore, OptiPa was developed to calibrate a given mathematical model by estimating values for its parameters using experimental data. The main contribution of OptiPa lies in its ability to quickly screen potential models on their fitness to describe and predict the experimental data. OptiPa discerns itself from other available optimisation tools through its built-in functionality to classify model parameters following user defined grouping criteria.