Single seed near-infrared hyperspectral imaging in determining tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seed quality in association with multivariate data analysis

Near-infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging was explored as a rapid and non-destructive method of investigating seed quality parameters such as seed viability and variation in tomato seed lots. The seed lots differed with year of production and variety. Four tomato varieties: Cal J, Monprecus, NCL and Chiuri from 2013, 2014 and 2015 were used in the study. The extracted NIR hyperspectral data from 975 to 2500 nm were analysed by principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares- discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). No distinct patterns of separation between viable and non-viable tomato seeds were revealed by the PCA. Our findings showed a pattern of separation in the tomato seed lots due to production years and varieties. The PLS-DA showed the ability to predict with 100 percent accuracy for varietal class membership when only the seeds of a single harvest year were included in the model. The accuracy from PLS-DA on pooled samples (all seeds from all varieties) predicted varietal class membership in the range from 34 to 88 percent. High variation in the seed lots could have caused high variation in the predicted varietal class membership. The NIR regions with chemical information from C-H, N-H and O-H had influence on the PCA and PLS-DA models. The study presents the prospects of using NIR hyperspectral imaging in varietal identification studies of tomato seeds though we recommend a thorough validation of models. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.