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Abstract: The feasibility of reflectance Vis/NIR spectroscopy was investigated for taste characterization of Valencia oranges based on taste attributes including soluble solids content (SSC) and titratable acidity (TA), as well as taste indices including SSC to TA ratio (SSC/TA) and BrimA. The robustness of multivariate analysis in terms of prediction was also assessed. Several combinations of various preprocessing techniques with moving average and Savitzky–Golay smoothing filters, standard normal variate (SNV) and multiplicative scatter correction (MSC) were used before calibration and the models were developed based on both partial least squares (PLS) and principle component regression (PCR) methods. The best models obtained with PLS method had root mean square errors of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.33°Brix, 0.07%, 1.03 and 0.37, and prediction correlation coefficients (r p) of 0.96, 0.86, 0.87 and 0.92 for SSC, TA, SSC/TA, and BrimA, respectively. It was concluded that Vis/NIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics could be an accurate and fast method for nondestructive prediction of taste attributes and indices of Valencia oranges. Moreover, the application of this technique was suggested for taste characterization, directly based on BrimA which is the best index related to fruit flavor rather than determination of SSC or TA alone. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A new approach for in-situ monitoring of apple nutrient contents was proposed. • Apple leaf spectra can replace costly and destructive analysis to predict NPK. • The RF model with Rfrog wavelength selection achieved the best results. • PLSR-based models are not recommended for nutrient estimation. • The approach can be used to develop a portable instrument to estimate NPK concentrations. Timely and rapid monitoring of apple trees nutrition status is vital for accurate management of nutrient fertilizers in order to improve the yield and quality, as well as to reduce the risk of environmental degradation. As a most frequently used method, tissue analysis used to assess the nutritional status of apple tree leaves is laborious, costly, time-consuming, environmentally unfriendly, and destructive. Ground-based sensors are able to efficiently provide information on nutritional status using leaf spectra reflectance. This research aims to establish a novel cost-effective and non-destructive approach for rapidly estimating the status of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) in apple tree leaves based on Visible/Near-infrared (Vis/NIR) spectroscopy (500–1000 nm) coupled with machine learning. The Vis/NIR spectra of apple trees' leaves were acquired. Then, leaf chemical contents of NPK elements were considered as reference points. Different pre-processing techniques were used to pre-treat the spectra. Four different chemometrics analysis consist of support vector machine (SVM), Artificial neural network (ANN), Random Forest (RF) and partial least square (PLS) were applied to predict NPK contents in comparison to actual values. In order to simplify the models, the sensitive wavelengths were extracted using three wavelength selection approaches, variable importance in projection (VIP), partial least squares (PLS), and random frog (Rfrog). The extracted feature wavelengths from PLS, VIP, and Rfrog methods were widely distributed in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum. The performance of the developed models was tested using Residual Prediction Deviation (RPD) and the Ratio of Performance to Interquartile Distance (RPIQ). The results demonstrated that among all models, the non-linear modeling methods were superior to the linear model. The best results for estimation of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K) elements were achieved by the models of MSC + D 2 -Rfrog-RF (r p = 0.985, RMSEP = 0.029%, RPD = 8.77, RPIQ = 7.72), SNV + D 2 -Rfrog-RF (r p = 0.977, RMSEP = 0.0053%, RPD = 6.42, RPIQ = 5.09) and SNV + D 2 -Rfrog-RF (r p = 0.978, RMSEP = 0.018%, RPD = 8.16, RPIQ = 7.01), respectively. The findings of the current approach may provide an efficient approach to predict in-situ NPK contents of apple trees based on leaf spectral reflectance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]