Rapid evaluation of Rosa roxburghii fruit quality by near-infrared spectroscopy

Rosa roxburghii Tratt is a regional deciduous shrub fruit that grows in southwestern China. The total flavonoids and vitamin C rich in R. roxburghii fruit are important criteria for judging the ripening status and quality. In this study, a nondestructive analytical method was developed to predict total flavonoids (TFs) and vitamin C (VC) in R. roxburghii fruit by using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) coupled with chemometrics. Different spectral pretreatments and variables selections were involved to optimize the NIRS models. Through comparative investigation, the best performance was finally attained from DBiPLS-CARS with Rp of 0.9685, RPD of 4.388 for TFs, and Rp of 0.9461, RPD of 3.045 for VC, respectively. Overall results in this study demonstrated that fast quantitative analysis of the essential quality attributes can be achieved by NIRS approach.