NONDESTRUCTIVE SINGLE-SEED OIL DETERMINATION OF MEADOWFOAM BY NEAR-INFRARED TRANSMISSION SPECTROSCOPY

Near-infrared transmission spectroscopy (NITS) was explored for single -seed oil determination of meadowfoam. Two calibration sets were deter mined by principle component analysis of recorded spectra. Nuclear mag netic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used for oil content determinat ion. The calibrations had standard errors of cross-validation of 3.6 a nd 4.4%, respectively, with an oil content ranging from 0.8 to 45.7%. This error is similar to that reported for NITS oi single maize kernel s, relative to the respective oil content ranges. Although not as accu rate as NMR spectroscopy, NITS does provide a fast efficient, and nond estructive method of predicting oil content of individual meadowfoam s eeds.