Eastern Grain Standards Committee recommendations from April 22, 2009

Standard samples

The Eastern Standards Committee recommended that the 2008 Mildew Guide for the grade Wheat, No. 2 Canada Eastern Red (Winter) be adjusted to reflect more mildew. The recommendation was based on studies of the impact of mildew on the end-use quality of eastern red winter wheat conducted by the Grain Research Laboratory (GRL) of the Canadian Grain Commission. Subject to availability of suitable material, new mildew guide samples will be prepared and distributed for implementation July 1, 2009. Standard and Guide samples provide a visual definition of “degree of soundness” in the Standard of Quality for each grain. Standard and Guide samples previously adopted for other grades and grains will continue to be used.

Grading changes

The Eastern Standards Committee recommended the following grading changes that will take effect on July 1, 2009:

Oats, Canada Eastern (CE)

Recommendation: Revise the current definition of “Hulled and hulless.”

The revised definition will include this paragraph: “Oats are graded without reference to variety. However, for samples containing 75% or more of hulless oats, Hulless forms part of the grade name, and tolerances for Hulled and hulless are disregarded.”

This recommendation reflects current industry practices. Most contracts for hulless oats are for 75% or more hulless rather than 95% or more. As well, the word “variety” was removed and replaced with “oat” because it was felt that “variety” was too confusing.

Triticale, Canada (CAN) and Hulless Barley, Canada Eastern (CE)

Recommendation: Replace K values with percentage tolerances for ergot and sclerotinia in triticale and ergot and stones in hulless barley.

K refers to kernel count. The kernel count is the number of kernel-sized pieces in a 500 gram sample. The recommended tolerances are percentages of the net weight of a sample.

Triticale, Canada

Grade name	Ergot
	Current tolerances	Recommended tolerances
No. 1 Canada	4K	0.025%
No. 2 Canada	8K	0.05%

Grade name	Sclerotinia
	Current tolerances	Recommended tolerances
No. 1 Canada	4K	0.025%
No. 2 Canada	8K	0.05%

Barley, Canada Eastern Hulless (CE)

Grade name	Ergot
	Current tolerances	Recommended tolerances
Select CE 2 Row	3K	0.02%
Select CE 6 Row	3K	0.02%

Grade name	Stones
	Current tolerances	Recommended tolerances
Select CE 2 Row	2K	0.06%
Select CE 6 Row	2K	0.06%
Standard CE Hulless	5K	0.15%

Grading studies and projects

The Eastern Standards Committee recommended that the Canadian Grain Commission continue work on the following projects:

• Use near-infrared reflectance (NIR) technology to assess chlorophyll in canola
• Study the relationship of fusarium-damaged kernels to the level of deoxynivalenol (DON) found in those kernels for all classes of eastern wheat
• Study the impact of merging the primary and export specifications for wheat
• Use Rapid Visco Analysis (RVA) technology to rapidly assess damage that is caused by sprouting in wheat
• Study the impact of brown seed in canola on the end-use quality
• Determine if there is toxicity in soybeans affected by purple mottling
• Study the impact of mildew on end-use functionality for all classes of eastern wheat 1

Moisture conversion tables

A new moisture conversion table will be released July 1, 2009 for Hulless oats.

A revised moisture conversion table will be released July 1, 2009 for Soft White Spring wheat. The new chart has values that are approximately 0.2% lower than those on the existing chart.