EVALUATION OF LABORATORY GRAIN CLEANING AND SEPARATING EQUIPMENT .1.

Three different laboratory grain cleaners were tested in order to dete rmine their feasibility for use in grain grading. The three machines t ested were: 1) Dockage Tester (XT 3) made by Carter-Day Co. (USA); 2) Mini Cleaner and Grader (Labofix) made by MCK Maschinebau (Germany); a nd 3) Laboratory Separator Cleaner (NSL) made by Tripette and Renaud ( France). The main objective of the study was to compare the grain clea ning performance of the Labofix and NSL models with that of the XT 3 m odel of dockage tester using five U.S. major crops: hard red winter wh eat, durum wheat, barley, yellow dent corn, and soybeans. Two units of each type of machine were tested with samples prepared at two levels of moisture content (11 and 15% w.b.) and three levels of impurities ( 5, 10, and 15%). The test results showed that the Labofix model is mor e feasible for use in grain grading, based on the analyses of impurity removal efficiency, accuracy, reproducibility, applicability, and eas e of operation.