Infrared technology, more than just a way to see in the dark.

November 21st, 2019

In September, NIR2019 was held on Queensland’s Gold Coast. It was the 19th holding of the International Council for Near Infrared Spectroscopy (ICNIRS) biennial conference. This conference allowed over 300 delegates from 37 countries to come together to discuss their work in the field of Near Infrared Spectroscopy or NIRS.
This diverse conference covered many fields of application, including: horticulture, agriculture, though soil mineralogy, geo-exploration, archaeology, museum science, wildlife and animal science. This conference is an amazing way to see immerging advances in the field as well as keep up with the new technology from instrument manufacturers.
NIRS uses a section of the electromagnetic spectrum between the red end of the visible spectrum and the Mid Infrared. It also uses the energy absorption of molecular overtone and combination vibrations of the atomic bonds to provide a board complex spectrum that is then interpreted using multivariate analysis techniques such as principal component analysis.

Currently, the published or instrument manufacture specified feed and ingredient calibrations are specific to a type of feed or ingredient Type. I presented an oral presentation of our work into universal NIR calibrations that can predict the chemical and physical properties of aquafeeds. We showed that it is possible to use NIR to predict the dry matter, ash, lipid, protein, and energy as well as starch damage of feeds used for a variety of different species (finfish, prawns, abalone) using a single set of calibration models. These models seek to greatly reduce the time needed to confirm diet and ingredient compositions for CSIRO researchers, and can assist the industry through real-time monitoring the output of feed mills allowing the optimisation of their processing conditions.