Soil organic matter (SOM) is a fundamental soil constituent. The estimation of this parameter in the laboratory using the classical method is complex time-consuming and requires the use of chemical reagents. The objectives of this study were to assess the accuracy of two laboratory measurement setups of the VIS-NIR spectroscopy in estimating SOM content and determine the important spectral bands in the SOM estimation model. A total of 115 soil samples were collected from the non-root zone (0e20

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... cm) of soil in the study area of the Triffa Plain and then analysed for SOM in the laboratory by the Walkley eBlack method. The reflectance spectra of soil samples were measured by two protocols, Contact Probe (CP) and Pistol Grip (PG)) of the ASD spectroradiometer (350e2500 nm) in the laboratory. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to develop the prediction models. The results of coefficient of determination (R 2 ) and the root mean square error (RMSE) showed that the pistol grip offers reasonable accuracy with an R 2 ¼ 0.93 and RMSE ¼ 0.13 compared to the contact probe protocol with an R 2 ¼ 0.85 and RMSE ¼ 0.19. The near-Infrared range were more accurate than those in the visible range for predicting SOM using the both setups (CP and PG). The significant wavelengths contributing to the prediction of SOM for (PG) setup were at: