National Soybean Research Laboratory
United Soybean Board Grain Composition Analysis and Raman Spectroscopy Pilot Study

Reliable measure of the protein, oil, and economically important soybean grain components is a main concern of the soybean industry.  The current technology standard for grain analysis in the soybean industry is near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, which provides quick and easy whole grain sample analysis.  Accurate and precise prediction of composition has proven to be challenging and is still an active area of research.  Researchers on this project hypothesize that Raman spectroscopy can provide robust compositional analysis of the multiple attributes contained in whole soybean grain samples with greater accuracy and/or precision than can be achieved with conventional NIR spectroscopy.