Evaluation of the quality of Italian Ryegrass Silages by Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract

Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has become increasingly used as a rapid and accurate method of evaluating some chemical compositions in forages. This study was carried out to explore the accuracy of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for the prediction of chemical parameters of Italian ryegrass silages. A population of 267 Italian ryegrass silages representing a wide range in chemical parameters and fermentative characteristics was used in this investigation. Samples of silage were scanned at 2 nm intervals over the wavelength range 680~2,500 nm and the optical data recorded as log 1/Reflectance (log 1/R) and scanned in intact fresh condition. The spectral data were regressed against a range of chemical parameters using partial least squares (PLS) multivariate analysis in conjunction with spectral math treatments to reduced the effect of extraneous noise. The optimum calibrations were selected on the basis of the highest coefficients of determination in cross validation (R 2 ) and the lowest standard error of cross validation (SECV). The results of this study showed that NIRS predicted the chemical parameters with very high degree of accuracy. The R 2 and SECV were 0.98 (SECV 1.27%) for moisture, 0.88 (SECV 1.26%) for ADF, 0.84 (SECV 2.0%), 0.93 (SECV 0.96%) for CP and 0.78 (SECV 0.56), 0.81 (SECV 0.31%), 0.88 (SECV 1.26%) and 0.82 (SECV 4.46) for pH, lactic acid, TDN and RFV on a dry matter (%), respectively. Results of this experiment showed the possibility of NIRS method to predict the chemical composition and fermentation quality of Italian ryegrass silages as routine analysis method in feeding value evaluation and for farmer advice.