Prediction of the Chemical Composition of Fresh Whole Crop Barley Silages by Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has become increasingly used as a rapid and accurate method of evaluating some chemical compositions in forages and feedstuff. This study was carried out to explore the accuracy of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for the prediction of chemical parameters of fresh whole crop barley silages. A representative population of 284 fresh whole crop barley silages was used as a database for studying the possibilities of NIRS to predict chemical composition. Samples of silage were scanned at 1 nm intervals over the wavelength range 680~2,500 nm and the optical data were recorded as log 1/Reflectance (log 1/R) and were scanned in fresh condition. NIRS calibrations were developed by means of partial least-squares (PLS) regression. NIRS analysis of fresh whole crop barley silages provided accurate predictions of moisture, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), crude protein (CP) and pH, as well as lactic acid content with correlation coefficients of cross-validation ($R^2cv$) of 0.96, 0.81, 0.79, 0.84, 0.72 and 0.78, respectively, and standard error of cross-validation (SECV) of 1.26, 2.83, 2.18, 1.19, 0.13 and 0.32% DM, respectively. Results of this experiment showed the possibility of the NIRS method to predict the chemical parameters of fresh whole crop barley silages as a routine analysis method in feeding value evaluation and for farmer advice.