_Applied_  
_sciences_  
_Article_  
**Portable Spectroscopy Calibration with Inexpensive and**  
**Simple Sampling Reference Alternatives for Dry Matter and Total Carotenoid Contents in Cassava Roots**  
**[PERSON] 1,\({}^{\dagger}\), [PERSON] 2,\({}^{\ast}\),\({}^{\ddagger}\), [PERSON] 3, [PERSON] 2,\({}^{\ddagger}\), [PERSON] 4, [PERSON] 4, [PERSON] 4, [PERSON] 1, [PERSON] 1 and [PERSON] 1**  
1 Department of Agricultural Production, School of Agricultural Sciences, Makereree University,  
P.O. Box 7062 Kampala, Uganda; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (W.A. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (R.E. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (PG. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (B.-E.O.) 2 School of Integrative Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University,  
Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
3 Department of Root Crops, National Crops Resources Research Institute, P.O. Box 7084 Kampala, Uganda; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
4 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, PMB 5320 Ibadan, Nigeria; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (I.R. ); [PERSON]@cigar.(E.P. ); [PERSON]DRESS] (P.K.) \({}^{\star}\)Correspondence: [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
\({}^{\dagger}\)Contribution: Equal contribution (Co-first authors): W.A. and U.N.I. **Citation:** [PERSON]; [PERSON], U.N.; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; Porubei Spectroscopy Calibration with Inexpensive and Simple Sampling Reference Alternatives for Dry Matter and Total Carotenoid Contents in Cassava Roots. _Appl. Sci._**2021**, _11_, 1714. [[https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041714](https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041714)]([https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041714](https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041714))  
Academic Editor:  
[PERSON]  
Received: 27 September 2020  
Accepted: 5 February 2021  
Submitted: 14 February 2021  
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and often do not have the means to grow or purchase more expensive micronutrient-rich foods [6]. Hidden hunger makes a significant contribution to the disease burden of children by limiting proper cognitive development, impairing physical development, and increasing susceptibility to infectious diseases [7]. Indeed, epidemiological investigations have found that low vitamin A status is frequently associated with increased disease incidence and is often associated with high mortality rates [8]. Since 2003, breeders across the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) have devoted attention to developing food crop varieties with significant levels of bioavailable, critical micronutrients [6]. The micronutrients of focus are mainly vitamin A, iron, and zinc, which are recognized by the International Nutrition Community as most limiting in diets [7]. Biofortification provides a comparatively cost-effective, sustainable, and long-term means of delivering more of these critical micronutrients. It can be considered a home-grown therapy for addressing the key nutritional challenges that are commonplace in rural communities. It provides a feasible means of reaching malnourished rural populations who may have limited access to diverse diets, supplements, and commercially fortified foods [9]. Cassava is a major target crop for biofortification due to its significance in the diets and income of millions of people around the world. The current effort in increasing genetic gain from a selection in a large segregating cassava population using the standard high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is not only challenging for the analyses of thousands of samples but very expensive, highly technical, and requires standard laboratory conditions and amenities which are often lacking in low-resource institutions and remote trial sites [10; 11; 12]. As such, investments in proxy options have been made to improve the evaluation of total carotenoid content (TCC) in cassava, including the use of iCheck [13], Chroma Meter [13], and spectrophotometer [14].