Rapid assessment of oil and moisture content in seeds of oil flax using IR spectrometry

We used near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to assess biochemical parameters in whole oil flax seeds, regardless of differences in seed coat color of the samples. At the first stage of work, the set the task to develop calibration models for the MATRIX-I IR analyzer to determine the oil and moisture content in flax seeds. The carried out the research in the laboratory of biochemistry on brown and yellow seed samples of oil flax, grown in 2015-2020 in various agro-ecological conditions of the Russian Federation. We determined the oil content on an AMV 1006M NMR analyzer in accordance with the GOST 8.5972010 measurement procedure; we assessed the moisture content by the standard method of GOST 1085696. We used the results of determination of the oil and moisture content of the seeds of test lot in accordance with the accuracy indicator of the calibration of GOST 32749-2014 to verify the reliability of the developed models. We received the best indicators of the quality of calibration models (root-mean-square prediction error, coefficient of determination and the value of the residual deviation of prediction for the rank displayed on the graph) by determining the oil content (RMSEP = 0.27 %, R2 = 99.2 and RPD = 11.2) and moisture content (RMSEP = 0.06 %, R2 = 99.9 and RPD = 39). In the OPUS LAB program we developed the “Flax 51” method for mass analysis based on the developed calibration models for the determination of oil and moisture content in whole oil flax seeds (9-20 g) in a sample cell with a diameter of 51 mm. It enables the quick carrying out a preliminary assessment of the breeding material at a high speed - more than 120 samples in 7 hours without seed destruction.