Fast and robust discrimination of almonds (Prunus amygdalus) with respect to their bitterness by using near infrared and partial least squares-discriminant analysis.
In this study, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) coupled to chemometrics is used to develop a fast, simple, non-destructive and robust method for discriminating sweet and bitter almonds (Prunus amygdalus) by the in situ measurement of the kernel surface without any sample pre-treatment. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) models were built to discriminate both types of almonds, obtaining high levels of sensitivity and specificity for both classes, with more than 95% of the samples correctly classified and discriminated. Moreover, the almonds were also analysed by Raman spectroscopy, the reference technique for this type of analysis, to validate and confirm the results obtained by NIR.
iSens Research Group, Department of Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain. Electronic address: eva.borras@urv.cat.
Eva
E
Borràs
Department of Food Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 30, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
José Manuel
JM
Amigo
Department of Food Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 30, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
Frans
F
van den Berg
iSens Research Group, Department of Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
Ricard
R
Boqué
iSens Research Group, Department of Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
Olga
O
Busto
D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D025341:Principal Component Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D027861:Prunus / Q000737:chemistry*; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*; D013649:Taste
Bitter almonds; Classification; NIR; PLS-DA; Prunus amygdalus; Raman; Sweet almonds