Near-Infrared Analysis of Sweet Sorghum Bagasse

Sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] bagasse is the byproduct of stem juice extraction for ethanol production that should be evaluated as a bioenergy feedstock or livestock feed. This study was conducted to determine if near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy could accurately analyze sweet sorghum bagasse for gross calorific value (GCV), in vitro true digestibility (IVTD), and crude protein (CP). Sweet sorghum bagasse was scanned in the NIR region then analyzed for GCV, IVTD, and CP. Laboratory data were regressed against NIR spectra to develop spectral prediction equations. All analytes were quantified successfully by NIR spectroscopy; squared correlation coefficients exceeded 0.90 for all analytes, and coefficients of variation were low.