Rapid and accurate detection of starch content in mixed sorghum by hyperspectral imaging combined with data fusion technology

Sorghum is a type of brewing material. The starch content of different kinds of mixed sorghum affect the quality and yield of liquor. Therefore, an accurate and efficient detection of its starch content is of great significance to obtain high‐quality and high‐yield of liquor. Based on the data of single visible light (Vis), near‐infrared (NIR), and Vis and NIR fusion, this study develops a genetic algorithm optimization BP neural network (GA‐BPNN) model and a particle swarm optimization support vector machine model. It is deduced that the model based on the data from the Vis and NIR fusion has the highest performance in predicting the starch content of mixed sorghum. For the prediction of amylose, the GA‐BPNN model developed after using the Pearson correlation coefficient to select the characteristic wavelength for fusion, has the highest performance (RMSEP = .0298 and Rp2= .9948). For the prediction of amylopectin, the GA‐BPNN model developed after fusion of spectral features extracted by principal component analysis, has the highest performance (RMSEP = .0213 and Rp2= .9985). In conclusion, the hyperspectral imaging combined with data fusion can rapidly and accurately detect the starch content of mixed sorghum. Practical Applications As the single raw material of Maotai‐flavor liquor and the main raw material of Luzhou‐flavor liquor, the amylopectin content of sorghum directly affects the quality of liquor. Its amylose content also affects the yield of liquor. Because the different varieties of sorghum have different amylose and amylopectin content, liquor manufacturers often use several mixed varieties of sorghum as a brewing material. In order to ensure the quality and yield of liquor, it is particularly crucial to detect the amylose and amylopectin content variables of blended sorghum. The traditional sorghum starch content determination methods, such as the chemical detection methods and near infrared spectroscopy, have the disadvantages of destructiveness, low efficiency, and low detection accuracy. In the process of liquor brewing, the traditional detection methods cannot guide the timely adjustment of brewing process parameters. The hyperspectral imaging technology is widely used in food material detection, due to its fast and nondestructive advantages. The data fusion technology can fuse data from different sources of the same object to be detected, in order to obtain more comprehensive data for the development of accurate prediction models. This