Determining the mineral composition in Cucurbita pepo fruit using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy. (16th April 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Martínez‐Valdivieso, Damián; Font, Rafael; Gómez, Pedro; Blanco‐Díaz, Teresa; Del Río‐Celestino, Mercedes
• Is Part Of: Journal of the science of food and agriculture. Volume 94:Number 15(2014:Dec. 15)
• Page Start: 3171
• Page End: 3180
• Publication Date: 2014-04-16
• Subjects: Food -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Periodicals; 664
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.6667
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-5142

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="jsfa6667-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="jsfa6667-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>BACKGROUND</title> <p id="jsfa6667-para-0001">Efforts through conventional breeding to improve the mineral content in horticultural crops have not always been successful mainly due to the fact that standard analytical methods are both costly and time‐consuming. We investigated the feasibility of applying near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to the estimation of essential mineral composition in the skin and flesh of summer squash fruits (<italic>Cucurbita pepo</italic> subsp. <italic>pepo</italic>) using a 200‐sample set from diverse morphotypes.</p> </sec> <sec id="jsfa6667-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>RESULTS</title> <p id="jsfa6667-para-0002">The coefficients of determination in the external validation (<italic>R</italic><sup>2</sup> VAL) obtained for the skin and flesh of the fruit were: total mineral content, 0.84 and 0.70; P, 0.74 and 0.62; K, 0.83 and 0.67; Ca, 0.57 and 0.60; Mg, 0.78 and 0.45; Fe, 0.78 and 0.65; Cu, 0.67 and 0.66; Mn, 0.67 and 0.64; Zn, 0.80 and 0.79 and Na, 0.33 and 0.33; respectively.</p> </sec> <sec id="jsfa6667-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>CONCLUSIONS</title> <p id="jsfa6667-para-0003">NIRS combined with different spectral transformations by modified partial least‐squares (MPLS) regression has shown to be useful in determining the mineral composition of summer squash fruit, being a fast and low‐cost analytical technique. Components such as chlorophyll, starch and lipids were used by MPLS for modelling the predicting equations. The promotion of micronutrient‐rich summer squash varieties could have a significant long‐term beneficial impact on the health of mineral deficient human populations. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry</p> </sec> </abstract>