Development of a NIRS-based prediction model for measurement of whole wheat flour arabinoxylan content to aid rapid germplasm screening

Abstract

Arabinoxylan (AX) is the primary dietary fiber found in wheat. Analysing AX through biochemical methods is costly and time-consuming. Developing a secondary screening method using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) coupled with chemometric analysis was successful. A NIRS-based prediction model for total arabinoxylan (TOT-AX) and water-extractable arabinoxylan (WE-AX) content was developed using a panel of wheat germplasm lines, including exotic collections, indigenous cultivars and landraces, employing modified partial least square (mPLS) regression. Among various mathematical treatments, the third derivative produced better results, and the model showed RSQ_internal values of 0.841 and 0.828, as well as RSQ_external values of 0.694 and 0.605 for the whole wheat flour TOT-AX and WE-AX, respectively present in whole wheat flour. Upon validation on independent sets, an RSQ value of 0.883 for TOT-AX and 0.761 for WE-AX was obtained, proving the reliability of the model. This prediction model provides a rapid and cost-effective method to screen large germplasm, allowing for the identification of high arabinoxylan wheat genotypes.