Evaluation of a combination of NIR micro-spectrometers to predict chemical properties of sugarcane forage using a multi-block approach

Forage quality is essential in livestock farming and has an important role in the functioning of agricultural farms.& nbsp;Access to biochemical variables provides an estimation of the feed value of crop for animal feed at harvest. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy provides measurements indirectly related to biochemical variables. In recent years, several micro-spectrometers have been developed that offer the opportunity to predict such biochemical variables at low cost. In this study, the potential of a combination of micro-spectrometers is evaluated to predict crude protein (CP) and total sugar content (TS) of sugarcane. First, each micro-spectrometer with optimal pre treatments was individually compared to a reference laboratory spectrometer. Then, a combination of micro-spectrometers is proposed and prediction models were established by a multi-block method from data fusion called Sequential and Orthogonalised Partial Least Squares (SO-PLS). For CP, the combination of micro-spectrometers provides model (sep = 0.69%; bias = 0.15%; R-test(2) = 0.910) close to those obtained with the reference spectrometer (sep = 0.56%; bias =-0.13%; R-test(2)& nbsp;= 0.935). For TS, the results obtained with this combination of micro spectrometers (sep = 2.38%; bias =-0.52%; R-test(2) = 0.983) are better than those obtained with the reference spectrometer (sep = 2.59%; bias = 0.41%; R-test(2 & nbsp;)= 0.978). For both chemical variables, the combination of the micro-spectrometers significantly increases the performance of the predictive models compared to the models obtained with the micro-spectrometers independently. Using several low-cost micro-spectrometers, combined with a multi-block method would give results as good as a single laboratory spectrometer with a lower cost.& nbsp;(C) 2022 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.