Quality of western Canadian lentils 2021

Other quality data for red lentils

Table 8 shows the 2021 quality data for the red lentil composites which included 10 cultivars:

• CDC Dazil
• CDC Imax
• CDC Impulse
• CDC King Red
• CDC Maxim
• CDC Proclaim
• CDC Redmoon
• CDC Rouleau
• CDC Simmie
• Crimson

In 2021, mean protein content (27.1%) and ash content (2.5%) were lower, while total starch content (46.1%) and total dietary fiber (14.0%) were higher than in 2020 red lentils. A higher amount of Ca (76.2 mg per 100 g sample) was detected in red lentils in 2021 compared to 2020 (Table 8). Overall, red lentils had a higher mean seed weight (4.2 grams per 100 seeds) and lower mean water absorption (0.95 grams water per gram of seeds) in 2021 than in 2020.

The mean dehulling efficiency for red lentils (74.4%) was lower with higher percentages of powders and broken seeds in 2021 than in 2020. The percentage of un-dehulled whole seeds was similar in 2021 and 2020 (Table 8). The colour of dehulled lentils was measured using a Hunterlab LabScan XE spectrocolorimeter with the CIE L*, a* and b* colour scale. Dehulled whole red lentils exhibited more brightness (L*) and less yellowness (b*), and the dehulled splits had more redness (a*) and less yellowness (b*) in 2021 than in 2020 (Table 8). A higher proportion of large red lentils was detected in 2021, with 83.9% seeds being larger than 4.5 mm in diameter compared to 62.5% in 2020 (Table 9).