Applications of near infrared spectroscopy in quality screening of early-generation material in cereal breeding programmes

In a breeding programme for quality improvement of cereals, crossbred lines are propagated and selected from generation to generation until desirable properties are obtained. The lines promoted to the next generation need to be the ones that have properties as close as possible to some specified quality target. Efficiency in selection of these lines from thousands of candidates requires the provision to the breeder of quality information at the earliest generation, in the time between harvest and sowing of the next generation and at the lowest cost. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy of whole grain has a number of well-known advantages (speed of analysis, no sample preparation required, low cost per test and concurrent analysis of multiple constituents) that make it particularly valuable for this purpose. This paper reviews the development over the last thirty years and the current status of NIR in the quality testing of wheat, barley, rice, durum, maize and oat breeding material.