Quality of western Canadian lentils 2017

6. Western Canadian green lentils

Table 4 shows quality characteristics for green lentil composites by seed size. Mean protein content for small-size green lentils (CDC Imvincible, CDC Viceroy, and Eston) was 26.8%, which was lower than the mean for 2016. Mean protein content for medium-size green lentils (CDC Imigreen, CDC Impress, and CDC Richlea) was 25.5%, identical to the mean for 2016. Protein content for large-size green lentils (CDC Glamis, CDC Grandora, CDC Greenland, CDC Greenstar, CDC Impower, CDC Improve, CDC Plato, CDC Sovereign, and Laird) was 26.2%, slightly lower than the mean for 2016. Mean starch contents for medium-size and large-size green lentils were lower than the means for 2016, while the mean for small-size green lentils was higher than the mean for 2016. Mean total dietary fiber contents for small-size, medium-size and large-size green lentils were lower than the means for all 3 sizes of lentils in 2016. Mean ash content for all 3 green lentil sizes was lower than the levels in 2016. Potassium (K) was the most abundant macroelement present in green lentils, followed by phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) (Table 4). Among microelements, iron (Fe) was the highest, followed by zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and copper (Cu).

Mean 100-seed weights for small, medium and large-size green lentils were 2.9 g, 5.4 g and 6.7 g, respectively (Table 4). Mean 100-seed weights for all 3 sizes of lentils were higher than the means for 2016. Mean water absorption values were 0.95 g H₂O per g seeds for small-size lentils, 0.93 g H₂O per g seeds for medium-size lentils and 0.98 g H₂O per g seeds for large-size lentils, were slightly lower than the means for 2016.

Seed size distribution for green lentils was determined by the image analysis technique (Table 5). The reported results may differ from those obtained by conventional sieving techniques. For small-size green lentils, approximately 82% of the seeds fell within 4.0 to 5.0 mm. For medium-size green lentils, 71% fell within 5.0 to 6.0 mm. For large-size green lentils, 92% fell within 5.5 to 7.0 mm.