Determination of moisture, starch, protein, and fat in common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) by near infrared spectroscopy.

The presence of moisture, starch, protein, and fat was determined in common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) by near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy without any previous sample pretreatment except grinding. A set of 96 samples was used to calibrate the instrument by modified partial least-squares regression. The following statistical results were achieved: standard error of calibration (SEC) = 0.31 and square correlation coefficient (R2) = 0.96 for moisture; SEC = 0.76 and R2 = 0.92 for starch; SEC = 0.39 and R2 = 0.98 for protein; and SEC = 0.14 and R2 = 0.80 for fat. To validate the calibration, a set of 25 bean samples was used. Standard errors of prediction were 0.39, 0.90, 0.56, and 0.13 for moisture, starch, protein, and fat, respectively, and R2 for the regression of measurements by the reference method versus NIR analysis were 0.94, 0.88, 0.94, and 0.74 for moisture, starch, protein, and fat, respectively. To compare the results obtained for all 4 components of the validation set by NIR spectroscopy with those obtained by the reference methods, linear regression and paired t tests were applied, and the methods did not give significantly different results, P = 0.05.