Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) analysis through biospeckle and spectroscopy (NIR)

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the sugar and water content in sugar cane samples by means of two non-destructive techniques in comparison with conventional methods. One non-destructive technique is the Biospeckle, an interaction between the laser and the biological material which provides information about the material. The other technique is the near infrared spectroscopy (NIR). The Biospeckle technique has been constantly used in agricultural engineering. In this paper, the relation between the water and the sugar contents were obtained. The results for the Biospeckle were acquired through the moment of inertia (MI). The data acquired through already consolidated methodologies were used to quantify the samples’ water and sugar contents, correlating to the spectroscopy results and also to the Biospeckle. It was obtained a high determination coefficient (R2 = 0.9287) between the predicted Brix by the model generated by NIR spectroscopy and Brix measured by refractometer. It was also possible to differentiate the water contents of the sugar cane samples both externally lit (husk) and internally lit (cut) by Biospeckle analysis through the calculation of MI. It is possible to evaluate the water content and the sugar content in samples combining Biospeckle and NIR spectroscopy, which are non-invasive and non-destructive methods.7626