Rapid Identification of Kudzu Powder of Different Origins Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

The rapid identification of kudzu powder of different origins is of great significance for studying the authenticity identification of Chinese medicine. The feasibility of rapidly identifying kudzu powder origin was investigated based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technology combined with chemometrics methods. The discriminant models based on the full spectrum include extreme learning machine (ELM), soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA), K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and random forest (RF), and the accuracy of models was more than 99.00%. The prediction results of KNN and RF models were best: the accuracy of calibration and prediction sets of kudzu powder from different producing areas both reached 100%. The characteristic wavelengths were selected using principal component analysis (PCA) loadings. The accuracy of calibration set and the prediction set of discrimination models, based on characteristic wavelengths, is all higher than 98.00%. Random forest and KNN have the same excellent identification results, and the accuracy of calibration and prediction sets of kudzu powder from different producing areas reached 100%. Compared with the full spectrum discriminant analysis model, the discriminant analysis model based on the characteristic wavelength had almost the same discriminant effects, and the input variables were reduced by 99.92%. The results of this research show that the characteristic wavelength can be used instead of the LIBS full spectrum to quickly identify kudzu powder from different producing areas, which had the advantages of reducing input, simplifying the model, increasing the speed and improving the model effect. Therefore, LIBS technology is an effective method for rapid identification of kudzu powder from different habitats. This study provides a basis for LIBS to be applied in the genuineness and authenticity identification of Chinese medicine.