Studies to Measure Cotton Fibre Length,Strength,Micronaire and Colour by vis/NIR Reflectance Spectroscopy. Part II: Principal Components Regression

In Part I of this series, both cotton fibre property and reflectance spectra data on 185 US cottons including four Pimas were analysed by descriptive statistics. In this paper, principal components regression (PCR) models for measuring six properties from the cotton's vis/NIR reflectance spectra are critically examined. These properties are upper-half mean length (UHM), uniformity index (UI), bundle strength (STR), micronaire (MIC) and colour (Rd and +b). The spectra were recorded with a scanning spectrophotometer in the wavelength range from 400 to 2498 nm. A variety of spectral processing options, some of which give improved PCR analysis results, were applied prior to the regressions and allowed for testing of over 100 PCR models. All PCR model results are based on the PRESS statistic by one-out-rotation, a fast approximation of the PRESS statistic (to reduce computer time) or on cluster analysis using separate calibration and validation data sets. The standard error of prediction (SEP) of all the properties except UHM compared well to the reference method precision. The precision of the UHM measure by reflectance spectroscopy was strongly influenced by the sample repack error. The SEP of UHM, UI and STR was improved by excluding the Pimas from the data set.