Abstract

Short wave infrared hyperspectral imaging was tested for its ability to distinguish rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) based on production area and quality grade, with the aim to replace time-consuming sensory analysis in the industry. The number of latent variables and model parameters of the calibration model were optimised by cross-validation. Classification error rates were used to evaluate the performance of the models in classifying rooibos based on production area and quality grade. The production area of rooibos was distinguished by applying a partial least square-discriminant analysis model with second derivative pre-processing, followed by mean centering and inclusion of nine LVs. The model could successfully distinguish between the two production areas and had a classification accuracy of 100% for the prediction set. To distinguish between different quality grades, a hierarchical model with second derivative pre-processing was developed. Grade A could be distinguished successfully from grades B, C and D (class BCD) with 100% accuracy and grade D could be distinguished from grades B and C (class BC) with 96% accuracy. However, the model was less accurate to distinguish between grade B and C samples, with prediction accuracies of 82 and 66% for B and C, respectively. Application of near infrared hyperspectral imaging therefore offers the potential to replace the use of sensory analysis in the rooibos tea industry to predict production area and quality grade of this herbal tea.

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