Fast Determination of the Rubber Content in Taraxacum Kok-Saghyz Fresh Biomass Using Portable Near Infrared Spectroscopy and Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography

Abstract Background: Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TKS), a plant native to the Tianshan valley on the border between China and Kazakhstan and inherently rich in natural rubber, inulin and other bioactive ingredients, is an important industrial crop. TKS rubber is a good substitute for natural rubber. TKS's breeding work necessitates the need to screen high-yielding varieties, hence rapid determination of rubber content is essential for the screening. Conventional analytical methods cannot meet actual needs in terms of real-time testing and economic cost. Near-infrared spectroscopy analysis technology, which has developed rapidly in the field of industrial process analysis in recent years, is a green detection technology with obvious merits of fast measurement speed, low cost and no sample loss. This research aims to develop a portable non-destructive near-infrared spectroscopic detection scheme to evaluate the content of natural rubber in TKS fresh roots. Pyrolysis gas chromatography (PyGC), was chosen as the reference method for the development of NIR prediction model. Results: 208 TKS fresh root samples were collected from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. Near-infrared spectra were acquired for all samples. Randomly two-thirds of them were selected as the calibration set, the remaining one-third as the verification set, and the partial least squares method was successfully used to establish a good NIR prediction model at 1080-1800nm with a performance to deviation ratio (RPD) of 5.54 and coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.95. Conclusions: This study showed that portable near-infrared spectroscopy could be used with ease for large-scale screening of TKS plants in farmland, and could greatly facilitate TKS germplasm preservation, high-yield cultivation, environment-friendly, high-efficiency and low-cost rubber extraction, and comprehensive advancement of the dandelion rubber industry thereof.