Evaluation of the use of attenuated total reflectance mid infrared spectroscopy to determine fatty acids in intact seeds of barley (Hordeum vulgare)

•Mid infrared spectroscopy was evaluated to measure fatty acids content in barley.•Mid infrared regions were identified and related to fatty acids and total lipids.•The result showed that MIR spectroscopy can be used to measure intact barley.

Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy was evaluated to measure fatty acids (FA) and total lipids in intact seed barley (Hordeum vulgare) samples. Results from this study demonstrated the capability of ATR-MIR spectroscopy coupled with partial least squares (PLS) regression to measure FA non-destructively in intact barley seeds. The coefficients of determination in cross validation (R2) and the standard error of cross validation (SECV) were 0.76 and 0.004 g 100 g−1 for stearic, 0.75 and 0.037 g 100 g−1 for oleic, 0.45 and 0.02 g 100 g−1 for palmitic acids, and 0.89 and 0.13 g 100 g−1 for total lipids, respectively. The practical implications of this study showed that ATR-MIR spectroscopy confer valuable benefits for the grain industry and in particular in breeding programs as a non-destructive high throughput method.