| Abstract: | The ability to rapidly measure key FA in oilseed crops would assist in the administration of identity-preserved systems in the grain-handling system or in selection systems in plant-breeding programs. This study shows near-infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy to be a reliable method of determining FA composition in canola, flax, and solin (low-linolenic flax), for oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and iodine value, and to a limited extent for saturated fat. Samples from cultivar trials, harvest surveys, and export shipments were scanned on a NIRSystems 6500 spectrometer (Silver Spring, MD), and calibrations were developed and optimized using modified partial least squares. SE of prediction results for prediction sets of canola, flax, and solin, were, respectively: oleic acid (0.77, 1.03, 0.62%); linoleic acid (0.71, 1.20, 0.37%); linolenic acid (0.42, 0.62, 0.08%); saturated FA (0.23, 0.39, 0.31%); and iodine value (0.63, 0.95, 0.43 units). This paper was previously presented at the 93rd AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo in Montréal, Québec, Canada, May 5–8, 2002, as part of the symposium entitled Use of Spectroscopic Methods to Determine the Fatty Acid Composition of Oils and Oilseeds. |
