Effects of Hardness and drying air temperature on breakage susceptibility and Dry-Milling characteristics of yellow dent corn

Abstract

Cereal Chem. 67(6):523-528 Kernel density, test weight, Stein and Wisconsin breakage suscepti- bility was primarily influenced by hardness, whereas Wisconsin breakage bilities, stress cracking, and Stenvert hardness were determined for three susceptibility was correlated with stress cracking. Milling quality, as meacorn hybrids that were classified as soft, hard, and of intermediate hard- sured by a milling evaluation factor (MEF), decreased linearly with inness. A stress crack index was developed for quantifying degree of stress creasing drying temperature. For all drying temperatures, the hard hybrid cracking. Severity of stress cracking was directly related to hardness with had the highest MEF and the soft hybrid had the lowest MEF. Kernel the hardest hybrid showing the most severe cracking. Surprisingly, stress density was the best single predictor of MEF (R 2 = 0.773). A two-variable cracking was most severe at the intermediate (600C) drying temperature. model that combined test weight and kernel density improved the predicStein breakage was greatest for the soft hybrid and least for the hard tion of MEF (R 2 = 0.907). Incorporation of additional variables into hybrid, whereas Wisconsin breakage was greatest for the hard hybrid the model did not significantly improve the two-variable MEF prediction and least for the hybrid of intermediate hardness. Stein breakage suscepti- model.