Abstract:Objective: To develop a method for the determination of oleanolic acid content in Eriobotrya japonica by near-infrared spectroscopy. Method: The oleanolic acid content of 140 samples was determined by the method of HPLC. NIR spectrograms were measured, the standard normal variate (SNV) and first derivative were used as spectral preprocessing options, and calibration model of the oleanolic acid content was established by the partial least squares regression analysis. The models were verified by internal cross validation and external predictive validation with 18 loquat samples. Result: The correlation coefficients, the root-mean-square error of calibration, the root-mean-square error of prediction and the root-mean-square error of cross-validation of the calibration model for ethanol extracts content were 0.939 23, 0.106, 0.131 and 0.216 75. Conclusion: The results show that the method is fast, accurate, and can be used as a rapid qualitative of chemical composition and quality control methods of E. japonica.