Dry conditions at harvest have resulted in some of the highest Hagbergs recorded in the past few years in provisional AHDB/HGCA Cereal Quality Survey estimates released today (9 September).

Overall GB wheat quality analysed so far by AHDB /HGCA, from 17,720 samples collected up to 30 August, shows large improvements on the poor quality 2012 crop, with average Hagbergs of 334 seconds and an average specific weight of 77.8 kg/hl.

However, these results are affected by the fact a large proportion of samples to date are from the East of England where the greatest harvest progress has been made, and are predominantly from nabim group 1 and 2 varieties.

GB barley specific weights at 67.9 kg/hl from 12,884 samples are encouraging, currently the highest since 1999, but screenings indicate grain size is smaller than average size pre-2012.

Amandeep Kaur Purewal, AHDB/HGCA Senior Analyst, said, "As harvest progresses and more nabim group 3 and 4 samples are included in the wheat analysis, there will be changes to the wheat data.

"Compared to 2012, overall samples for both wheat and barley have improved, but the real question must be how quality parameters will finally compare to more typical years rather than focusing on year-on-year comparisons," she added.

The AHDB/HGCA Cereal Quality Survey results will be updated in October with final results published in November.

Wheat

As at 27 August 2013, only 40% of GB wheat area had been harvested so it is important to note that the data provided is subject to change once more samples are collected and harvest draws to a close.

• Specific weight, at 77.8 kg/hl is higher than last year’s final figure and more in line with the values recorded pre-2012. The approximate range for 2013 was 71.3-83.9 kg/hl.
• The provisional 2013 estimate of 334s for the Hagberg Falling Number (HFN), when compared to final HFN results, is the highest since 1990. This is due to dry weather conditions once the crop was ready to harvest. (Range: 220-443s).
• Protein content is lower than last year at 12.4%, but above the 3 year average of 12.1%. The approximate range is between 10.0% and 14.7%, which is narrower than the range obtained in last year’s provisional estimates.
• Moisture content, at 14.8%, has returned to levels prior to 2012, with a range of 12-18%.

Barley

Spring barley represents just over half of all the samples analysed. This proportion is expected to increase when results are updated as the harvest of winter barley was all but complete by 27 August.

• Specific weight at 67.9 kg/hl is a marked improvement on last year, but also ranks as one of the highest weights in the past 8 years. (Range: 62.0-73.5 kg/hl)
• Nitrogen content at 1.66% is higher than the final result obtained last year, and above the 3-year average. (Range: 1.2-2.1%)
• Screenings: Although these results have improved compared to last year, they have not returned to the average prior to 2012. The percentage of grain passing through a 2.25mm sieve was 2.0%, whilst the proportion retained by a 2.5mm sieve was 92.7%. The range of grain retained was 77-99%, whilst the range for grain passing through the sieve was 0-8%.
• Moisture content is one of the lowest since 2005 at 14.6%. (Range: 11.9-17.7%)