Estimating deoxynivalenol in shelled corn barge lots by measuring deoxynivalenol in corn screenings.

To determine if deoxynivalenol (DON) is concentrated in small corn screenings, fourteen to twenty-three 1.1 kg test samples were taken from each of 10 barges of shelled corn. Each of the 181 test samples was divided into 2 components (fines and clean) using a 5 mm screen. The clean component sample rode the 5 mm screen and the fines component sample passed through the 5 mm screen. The DON concentration in fines component sample was about 3 times the DON concentration in the clean component sample. The DON in the 181 fines and clean component samples averaged 689.0 and 206.1 ng/g, respectively. Regression equations were developed to predict the DON in the barge based upon measurements of DON in the fines component sample. The ratio of DON in the lot to DON in the fines component sample was 0.359. The coefficient of variation (CV) associated with predicting the DON concentration in a lot with 359 ng/g using a 1.1 kg test sample was 47.0%. Increasing sample size to 4.4 kg reduced the CV to 23%.