Near Infrared Spectroscopy as a rapid non-invasive tool for agricultural management

Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non-invasive method of measuring internal/external quality and safety attributes of agricultural products using optical light to determine chemical composition. The technology offers the advantage of being non-destructive, fraction of a second per test, with the potential to test every piece of product in an in-line application for various internal/external attributes simultaneously. Such technologies may also be utilised as tools for quality and sustainable management in the production environment. Field applications for soil and crop management would enable the primary producer to readily monitor individual plants and orchard/crop quality regularly for breeding programs, assist in water and fertilizer management and allow the primary producer to make informative decisions to achieve final product specifications.\ud \ud The aim of this study was to assess the potential of Fourier Transform (FT) NIRS as an objective and non-invasive tool in the agricultural environment. Avocado maturity was selected for this purpose as commercial avocado maturity estimation is currently based on destructive assessment of the percentage dry matter (DM), and sometimes percent oil, both of which are highly correlated with maturity. This study demonstrated the ability of FT-NIRS as a noninvasive method to predict Hass avocado maturity based on DM content and its ability to predict over different geographical locations