COMPARISON OF LOADING RESPONSE OF PACKED GRAIN AND INDIVIDUAL KERNELS

The compressive loading behavior of nine grain varieties and four grai n types was determined by two common test methods: compressive loading of individual kernels and compressive loading of packed whole grains. Two hypotheses tested were: 1) the loading behavior of one variety re lative to another would be the same for each compression test method, and 2) the loading behavior of one grain type relative to another woul d be the same for each compression test method Student's t and t' (t-p rime) statistical analysis of the results indicated that hypothesis no . 1 was true only for hard red winter wheat varieties and that hypothe sis no. 2 was not true when comparing hard red winter wheat to soybean and to sorghum (moisture content of 16% +/- 1% wet basis). The implic ations of these results are 1) while varieties within the same grain t ype may react similarly under one of these test conditions, dramatical ly different results may occur under the other test condition; and 2) testing of individual kernels may not reflect the mechanical response of several kernels held in bulk.