Earlier literature reports did not reveal any correlations between NIR spectral characteristics and cis-lycopene diepoxide,
lycoxanthin, and zeaxanthin contents. The present study reveals that such a correlation exists. In Fig. 2, the scatter plot of references measured and predicted using NIRS with PLS models in the calibration set is presented. A correlation was performed using the first derivative + MSC spectral transformation of the samples for the determination of cis-lycopene diepoxide. The statistical parameters (R2CV= 0.76; RMSECV=0.269 μg g-1) showed promising results compared with the results of the reference method. The RPD is 2.04, which shows that the equation is suitable for qualitative determination. The lycoxanthin content was accurately predicted. The RMSECV is 0.281 μg g-1 and the number of the PLS factors are 7, which shows that the developed method is robust and applicable for lycoxanthin determination in tomato tissues. The PLS result for the determination of zeaxanthin content shows (R2CV= 75.3; RMSECV = 0.099 μg g-1) that the NIR technique has the potential for the use in the determination of zeaxanthin content. In the case of β-carotene content determination, the NIR equation had a low RMSECV value (0.174 μg g-1) and high R2CV (0.89). The RPD is 2.95, which shows that the
model is applicable for quantitative analyses.