Long wavelength near-infrared transmission spectroscopy of barley seeds using a supercontinuum laser: Prediction of mixed-linkage beta-glucan content

•The use of NIR spectroscopy for measuring β-glucan in barley is reviewed.•First use of supercontinuum laser for single seed measurements in the NIR region.•First long wavelength transmission NIR spectroscopy of single barley seeds.•A PLS model for prediction of β-glucan was developed using the 2275-2375 nm region.

A supercontinuum laser was used to perform the first transmission measurements on intact seeds with long wavelength near-infrared spectroscopy. A total of 105 barley seeds from five different barley genotypes (Bomi, lys5.f, lys5.g, lys16 and lys95) were measured from 2275 to 2375 nm. The mixed-linkage (1→3,1→4)-β-D-glucan (BG) and protein content was measured with wet chemical analysis for each single seed. A partial least squares model correlated the BG % (w/w) with the spectral measurements with a R2CV and R2PRED of 0.83 and 0.90, respectively. The predictive model for BG could be improved by averaging spectra from the same seed and by replacing the individual seed BG content with the average BG of each barley genotype.

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