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INVESTIGATING BEST PRACTICES FOR STORING PULSES RESEARCH When crop storage research reached its height in the 1980s and 1990s, pulses were not commonly grown on the Canadian Prairies. With evolving growing condi ons, beans, peas, len ls and chickpeas have become an important fixture of Canadian grain produc on. Grain storage prac ces for pulses were based on data gathered for wheat and canola, but pulses have their own unique proper es that warrant crop-specific guidelines. In addi on, producers o en choose to harvest pulses "tough" – slightly under-ripe with a higher moisture content than ideal for storage - with the goal of promo ng hardiness when handling. With storage and the ability to dry the crop in-bin serving as cri cal ac vi es of crop produc on where spoilage presents significant financial risk, the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Ins tute (PAMI) set out to study pulse storage so producers could make op mized management choices. As part of a two-year study funded by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture under the Canada- Saskatchewan Growing Forward 2 bi-lateral agreement, PAMI seeks to determine best prac ces for pulse storage. Specifically, researchers aim to determine the effect of airflow rate on cooling of peas and len ls, inves gate the impacts of airflow on quality (i.e. germina on), and confirm Unloading len ls from the 15 bu test bins at the end of the len l drying trial. informa on that helps producers op mize their choices of fan size and opera on. Year One data has been collected and analyzed on both a bench and bin scale. These results, along with final results in 2019, will be disseminated to producers thanks to funding from Alberta Pulse Growers. Figure 1. Average moisture content and ambient temperature throughout the len l drying trial (Aug. 14 to 25, 2017). By Dr. Joy Agnew, P.Eng., PhD Prairie Agricultural Machinery Ins tute 2 4

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