Prediction of chemical composition of sugar beet pulp by near infrared reflectance spectroscopy

6 pages, 2 tables, 2 figures.The feasibility of near infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy to estimate the chemical composition of dehydrated sugar beet pulp was examined in the present study. Seventy-three samples from different processing plants were analysed for dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and soluble (NDSF) fibre, according to the conventional chemical methods. The parameters predicted by NIR spectroscopy with the highest accuracy were DM (R-2 = 0.97; SECV=5.69 g kg(-1) FM) and CP (R-2=0.90; SECV=3.81 g kg(-1) DM) content. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that NIR technology can be used to discriminate samples of sugar beet pulp manufactured by different chemical procedures.This work has been supported by the Junta de Castilla y León (Project CSI 07/04).Peer reviewe