Rapid and Cost-Effective Assessment of the Neutral and Acid Detergent Fiber Fractions of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) by Combining Modified PLS and Visible with Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

The near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) combined with modified partial least squares (modified PLS) regression was used for determining the neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and the acid detergent fiber (ADF) fractions of the chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seed. Fifty chickpea accessions (24 desi and 26 kabuli types) and fifty recombinant inbred lines F-5:6 derived from a kabuli x desi cross were evaluated for NDF and ADF, and scanned by NIRS. NDF and ADF values were regressed against different spectral transformations by modified partial least squares regression. The coefficients of determination in the cross-validation and the standard deviation from the standard error of cross-validation ratio were, for NDF, 0.91 and 3.37, and for ADF, 0.98 and 6.73, respectively, showing the high potential of NIRS to assess these components in chickpea for screening (NDF) or quality control (ADF) purposes. The spectral information provided by different chromophores existing in the chickpea seed highly correlated with the NDF and ADF composition of the seed, and, thus, those electronic transitions are highly influenced on model fitting for fiber.