Abstract: This study aimed to develop a technique to trace the geographical origin of protected geographical indication (PGI) rice grown in different years for the purpose of protecting the brand benefits of PGI rice. Near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy was used to detect rice samples from experimental fields and the characteristic bands related to the growing area were selected. The geographical origin of 291 rice samples from Sanjiang and Wuchang areas, collected during 2013 to 2015 was analyzed using the characteristic bands. There were significant differences among the experimental filed grow rice samples in terms of geographical origin in the range of 5 136–5 501 cm-1. In this range, the qualitative analysis model and the cluster analysis model established by the factorization method showed a correct recognition rate of higher than 97.00% for Sanjiang and Wuchang rice; the correct recognition rates of the quantitative analysis model established by partial least squares (PLS) were 95.83% and 94.00%, respectively. Therefore, this method was proved feasible for tracing the geographical origin of rice harvested in different years.

Key words: rice, geographical origin traceability, near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, factorization method, partial least squares