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Title: ANALYSIS OF FIBER CONTENT IN FLAX STEMS BY NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY

Author
item Barton Ii, Franklin
item Akin, Danny
item Morrison Iii, Wiley
item ULRICH, A - SASKATOON CANADA
item ARCHIBALD, D - PENN ST COLLEGE PA

Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/5/2002
Publication Date: 12/1/2002
Citation: BARTON II, F.E., AKIN, D.E., MORRISON III, W.H., ULRICH, A., ARCHIBALD, D.D. ANALYSIS OF FIBER CONTENT IN FLAX STEMS BY NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY. 2002. V. 50. P. 7576-7580.

Interpretive Summary: It is difficult to ascertain the value of a standing fiber crop of flax and to determine the extent to which the retted straw must be processed to be used in blended textiles, composites or paper. A NIRS method has been developed to measure the fiber content of intact flax straw. The fiber content can be determined to a precision of +/- 2%. This is sufficient to assess the crop value and make processing decisions. There are over 2,000,000 acres of seed flax in north America whose straw is usually burned. This will not be allowed in the near future for environmental reasons and it is desirable to acquire a value added product that would otherwise be discarded.

Technical Abstract: Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) has been used to measure fiber in forages for many years. Early work was on ground tissue in a spinning cup and later on forage in a large square cell. In order for fiber to be measured in flax, the plant must first be "retted". This is a process by which the fibers are separated from the rest of the stem either by indigenous organisms in the soil when the stems are left in the field or by water or enzymatic retting. The fiber content of flax stems was measured by NIRS with whole pieces of stem in a large cell in reflectance mode. The standard error of performance (SEP) was between 0.96 - 1.45 percent depending on the model and processing used. The NIR results were developed with reference data from a water retting procedure which takes several days to complete and is very time consuming and requires considerable technical support for the hand separation steps. Data from the hand separation of retted fiber and shive was used as the reference method. The NIRS procedure was conducted on 8 inch pieces of stem to simulate measurement in the field.