Research Article
Feasibility Study on the Use of a Portable NIR Spectrometer and Multivariate Data Analysis to Discriminate and Quantify Adulteration in Fertilizer
Table 1
Samples used for the experiment.
| No. | Categories | Fertilizer type | No. of samples | Percentage purity (%) | Chemical | Physical |
| Brand A | Authentic = A | Improved urea | 63 | 100 | 40% N + 5.6% S | Nitrogen sulphate sulphur granular fertilizer that is 100% soluble | Expired = A | Improved urea | 63 | 100 | 40% N + 5.6% S | Adulterated = A | Improved urea | 35 | 10 | Nil | Pure improved urea samples adulterated with expired ones | 35 | 20 | 35 | 30 | 35 | 40 | 35 | 50 |
| Brand B | Authentic = B | Nitrabor | 63 | 100 | 15.4% N + 25.9% CaO + 0.3% B | Dense granular field grade calcium nitrate fertilizer | Expired = B | Nitrabor | 63 | 100 | 15.4% N + 25.9% CaO + 0.3% B | Adulterated = B | Nitrabor | 35 | 10 | Nil | Pure nitrabor samples adulterated with expired ones | 35 | 20 | 35 | 30 | 35 | 40 | 35 | 50 | | Total samples | 602 | | |
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