The use of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) in the prediction of chemical composition of freeze-dried egg yolk and discrimination between different n-3 PUFA feeding sources

The study evaluated near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to predict the physicochemical composition of freeze-dried egg yolk samples from laying hens fed with four different diets. Beside the control (C), the other three diets were enriched with different sources of n - 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA): marine origin (NF), extruded linseed (EL) and ground linseed (GL). Furthermore, NIRS was used to classify the yolks according to hens' feeding regime. Samples were analyzed chemically and scanned in reflectance mode between 1100 and 2498 nm of the near-infrared region.