Non-destructive determination of lycopene in tomatoes using visible/near-infrared spectroscopy

Multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis of spectra (500-1000 nm) of tomatoes (n = 82) gave a calibration equation using d2 log 1/R at 568, 602, 626, 692, 826, and 946 nm with a multiple correlation coefficient of 0.97. The MLE calibration was validated using other tomato sample lots, and the tomatoes were predicted well with a root mean square of 1.28 mg/100g (n = 42). Therefore, visible/near-infrared technology is a potentially effective way to non-destructively determine lycopene in tomatoes.