Quality control in the grain handling chain

Quality control during transport and storage is an increasingly important issue as wheat and barley farming in Western Australia focuses more on specialist crop varieties. Variety and purity assurance of wheat and barley is needed for end-users, for royalty returns to breeders for new varieties, and to ensure the reputation of Australian grains in world markets.

Researchers at Murdoch University are working to develop new types of tests that can be completed during the turn-around time of the delivery of a grain truck to handlers.

'Old style DNA extraction and testing takes hours, so we are looking at new protein and DNA - based methods that can be completed in a few minutes,' said Professor Mike Jones, Director of the WA State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre (SABC) at Murdoch University.

'The new methods will complement existing tests that use infrared technology to analyse the moisture and protein content of grains, and checks for weed seeds and pests.'

The three year project is funded by the Australian Research Council and is a collaboration between the SABC Plant Biotechnology Research Group and Saturn Biotech Limited.