Spectrometric prediction of wood basic density by comparison of different grain angles and variable selection methods

Background Wood basic density (WBD) is one of the most crucial wood property in tree and mainly determined the end use of wood for industry. However, the measurement WBD is time- and cost-consuming, which an alternatively fast and no-destructive measurement is needed. In this study, capability of NIR spectroscopy combined with partial least squares regression (PLSR) to quantify the WBD were examined in multiple wood species. To obtain more accurate and robust prediction models, the grain angle (0° (transverse surface), 45°, 90° (radial surface)) influence on the collection of solid wood spectra and a comparison of found variable selection methods for NIR spectral variables optimization were conducted, including significant Multivariate Correlation (sMC), Regularized elimination procedure (Rep), Iterative predictor weighting (Ipw) and Genetic algorithm (Ga). Models made by random calibration data selection were conducted 200 times performance evaluation. Results These results indicate that 90° angle models display relatively highest efficiency than other angle models, mixed angle model yield a satisfied WBD prediction results as well and could reduce the influence of grain angle. Rep method shows a higher efficiency than other methods which could eliminate the uninformative variables and enhance the predictive performance of 90° angle and mix angle models. Conclusions This study is potentially shown that the WBD (g/cm3) on solid wood across grain angles and varies wood species could be measured in a rapid and efficient way using NIR technology. Combined with the PLSR model, our methodology could serve as a tool for wood properties breeding and silviculture study.