Spectral separation degree method for Vis-NIR spectroscopic discriminant analysis of milk powder adulteration

[Display omitted] •Visible and near-infrared combined with few-wavelength k-nearest neighbor.•High-precision milk powder adulteration discriminant.•Separation degree spectrum describing the difference between two types of spectra.•Wavelength selection of separation degree priority combination.•Miniaturized wavelength optimization. Adulteration detection of adding ordinary milk powder to high-end dedicated milk powder is challenging due to the high similarity. Using visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy combined with k-nearest neighbor (kNN), the discriminant analysis models of pure brand milk powder and its adulterated milk powder (including unary and binary adulteration) were established. Standard normal variate transformation and Norris derivative filter (D = 2, S = 11, G = 5) were jointly used for spectral preprocessing. The separation degree and separation degree spectrum between two spectral populations were proposed and used to describe the differences between the two spectral populations, based on which, a novel wavelength selection method, named separation degree priority combination-kNN (SDPC-kNN), was proposed for wavelength optimization. SDPC-wavelength step-by-step phase-out-kNN (SDPC-WSP-kNN) models were established to further eliminate interference wavelengths and improve the model effect. The nineteen wavelengths in long-NIR region (1100–2498 nm) with a separation degree greater than 0 were used to establish single-wavelength kNN models, the total recognition-accuracy rates in prediction (RARP) all reached 100%, and the total recognition-accuracy rate in validation (RARV) of the optimal model (1174 nm) reached 97.4%. In the visible (400–780 nm) and short-NIR (780–1100 nm) regions with the separation degree all less than 0, the SDPC-WSP-kNN models were established. The two optimal models (N = 7, 22) were determined, the RARP values reached 100% and 97.4% respectively, and the RARV values reached 96.1% and 94.3% respectively. The results indicated that Vis-NIR spectroscopy combined with few-wavelength kNN has feasibility of high-precision milk powder adulteration discriminant. The few-wavelength schemes provided a valuable reference for designing dedicated miniaturized spectrometer of different spectral regions. The separation degree spectrum and SDPC can be used to improve the performance of spectral discriminant analysis. The SDPC method based on the separation degree priority proposed is a novel and effective wavelength selection