Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy for determination of the geographical origin of wheat

The feasibility of using near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometrics was investigated to discriminate wheat geographical origins. A total of 240 wheat samples from two growing years from four major wheat producing regions in China were analyzed. After spectral data pre-treatment to wheat kernel and whole wheat flour, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) based on principal component scores and discriminant partial least squares analysis (DPLS) were applied to classify origins of samples excluding water spectrum. The results showed that there were significant differences among wheat NIR spectra from different regions. Wheat could be classified based on geographical origins with chemometrics. DPLS were better than LDA for wheat origin determination. In conclusion, NIRS combined with chemometrics is a promising method for identifying wheat according to geographical origin, but the effectiveness should be verified further.