Abstract-Characterization of Wheat Varieties Using Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy

Hongyi Ge ^1,2,* , Yuying Jiang ^1,2

, Feiyu Lian ³

, Yuan Zhang ³

 and Shanhong Xia ^1,2

http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/15/6/12560

¹ State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China² University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China³ Key Laboratory of Grain Information Processing & Control, Ministry of Education, Zhengzhou 450001, China

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 19 April 2015 / Accepted: 21 May 2015 / Published: 27 May 2015

Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis were explored to discriminate eight wheat varieties. The absorption spectra were measured using THz time-domain spectroscopy from 0.2 to 2.0 THz. Using partial least squares (PLS), a regression model for discriminating wheat varieties was developed. The coefficient of correlation in cross validation (R) and root-mean-square error of cross validation (RMSECV) were 0.985 and 1.162, respectively. In addition, interval PLS was applied to optimize the models by selecting the most appropriate regions in the spectra, improving the prediction accuracy (R = 0.992 and RMSECV = 0.967). Results demonstrate that THz spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis can provide rapid, nondestructive discrimination of wheat varieties.