Monitoring the performance of a broad-based calibration for measuring the nutritive value of two independent populations of pasture using near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy

Near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy is a rapid and cost-effective method for the measurement of organic constituents of agricultural products. NIR is widely used to measure feed quality around the world and is gaining acceptance in Australia. This study describes the development of an NIR calibration to measure crude protein (CP), predicted in vivo dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) in temperate pasture species grown in south-western Victoria. A subset of 116 samples was selected on the basis of spectral characteristics from 461 pasture samples grown in 1987-89. Several grass and legume species were present in the population. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was used on the 116 samples to develop calibration equations with standard errors of 0.8,2.3 and 2.2% for CP, NDF and IVDMD, respectively. When these equations were tested on 2 independent pasture populations, a significant bias existed between NIR and reference values for 2 constituents in each population, indicating that the calibration samples did not adequately represent the new populations for these constituents. The results also showed that the H statistic alone was inadequate as an indicator of equation performance. It was confirmed that it was possible to develop a broad-based calibration to measure accurately the nutritive value of closed populations of temperate pasture species. For the resulting equations to be used for analysis of other populations, however, they must be monitored by comparing reference and NIR analyses on a small number of samples to check for the presence of bias or a significant increase in unexplained error.