Pulse crop maturity advanced rapidly throughout most of the Prairies in 2006.
Because pulse crops, other than dry beans and soybeans, are often planted first, this year’s early spring conditions in areas other than northeastern Saskatchewan saw early-seeded crops take advantage of warm soils and good rainfall in June, said Ray McVicar with Saskatchewan Agriculture.
The provincial special crops specialist said many pea and lentil crops matured quickly in the heat of July and some were ready for harvest in early August. Drought conditions in southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta caused harvest to start and finish early.
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A positive factor this year is the high quality of the pulse crop. Processors report more than 90 percent of lentils, peas and chickpeas should be in the top two grades.
A lot of pulse crops were put into storage at low moisture content and high temperature. Pulses stored at high temperature are more prone to bleaching and oxidization.
Monitoring stored grain during and after harvest is an important part of a grower’s day-to-day activities. The safe storage of pulse crops is important every year, and the key to avoiding mould and other storage problems is the use of aeration to cool and dry the seed. Testing with a moisture meter should be carried out several times after the crop is binned.
Now that there has been some wet weather in September, producers should monitor their stored crops immediately to prevent losses due to spoilage. The risk of spoilage becomes more important if the crop was harvested following wet weather. This risk is greatly reduced if foreign material is removed.
Because of their large seed, stored chickpeas and peas need time for the moisture to equalize throughout the seed. Chickpeas harvested at high temperatures will most likely sweat in the bin. This occurs as the moisture moves within the bin.
For prolonged safe storage, pulse crops should be cooled to less than 15 C and dried to less than 14 percent moisture. Seed that is cooled to 10 C will store well for long periods.
The Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Pulse Production Manual, located at http://www.saskpulse.com/media/pdfs/ppm-field-pea.pdf, contains a table outlining the number of weeks for safe storage of peas at specified moisture content and temperature.
Peas stored at 14 percent moisture and 10 C can be safely stored for about 95 weeks. Peas stored at 18 percent moisture and 20 C have a safe storage limit of only seven weeks. Other pulse crops will be similar.
Different moisture content levels must be taken into consideration for red lentils. Red lentils are considered to be dry at 13 percent moisture content and that is also the level at which buyers around the world prefer the crop.
This year’s hot dry summer has allowed most lentils to be harvested dry.
Pulse crops at 12 percent moisture or lower are more prone to chipping and peeling during handling, especially when the temperature has dropped below -20 C.
A bin equipped with an aeration fan can provide both cooling and drying. But, while cooling may be completed in one day, drying can take three to four weeks.
To do this, the aeration fan must have adequate power to provide air flow through the grain. The recommended requirement for aeration drying of a pulse crop is about one to two cubic feet of air per minute per bushel or about 2,000 to 4,000 cubic feet per minute for a 2,000 bu. bin.
With the recent harvest delays due to rain, supplemental heat drying may be required. To preserve germination with pulse crops, air temperature should not exceed 45 C and the sample should not be dried more than four to five percentage points per pass through the dryer.
The product should be allowed to temper in an aeration bin between passes because the augers within a grain dryer can increase seed coat peeling and cracking.
Growers who use long-term storage to help their pulse marketing plan can also make good use of a belt conveyor. Pulse crops often need to be rotated in the bin to prevent spoilage and a conveyor can accomplish this with little seed damage. Growers needing a new auger should investigate the idea of moving to a belt system.
