Falling Number facts for kids

The Falling Number (also called the Hagberg number) is a super important test used around the world. It helps find out if wheat or rye grains have been damaged by too much rain before they were harvested. This damage, called "sprout damage," can make it hard to bake good bread. The Falling Number test can quickly check grains when they arrive at a silo (a big storage place).

When grains sprout before they are harvested, it's usually because of wet or rainy weather. This sprouting makes the grain produce a lot of an enzyme called alpha-amylase. This enzyme breaks down starch. Grains that have sprouted a lot can have thousands of times more of this enzyme than healthy grains. Even a small amount of sprouted grain mixed into good grain can cause big problems because of all that enzyme! Since it was created in the 1960s, the Falling Number test has become a worldwide standard. It measures alpha-amylase activity in wheat, durum wheat, triticale, rye, and barley, as well as flours made from these grains.

How the Test Started

The Falling Number method was created in the late 1950s. Two smart people, Sven Hagberg and Harald Perten, developed it. They worked at the Cereal Laboratory in Sweden.

How the Falling Number Test Works

The Falling Number test is quite simple, but it needs special equipment that meets international rules. This equipment includes a hot water bath, a test tube, a stirring rod, and a device to stir the mixture. When the test was first used, people did it by hand. Today, most of the equipment is automated, meaning machines do a lot of the work.

Preparing Your Sample

To test a grain sample, you first need to grind it into a fine powder. If you have a flour sample, you can use it as is. You put the sample into a test tube. Then, you add distilled water (very pure water) and shake the tube strongly. This makes sure the powder and water mix together perfectly.

Doing the Test

Next, the test tube is placed into the boiling water bath. The person doing the test starts to stir the sample. As it heats up, the starch in the sample begins to turn into a gel. This makes the mixture, called a slurry, become thicker or more viscous. Stirring helps make sure the gel forms evenly throughout the slurry. This is very important for getting correct test results.

At the same time, the high temperature also makes the alpha-amylase enzyme in the grain start to work. This enzyme breaks down the starch into smaller sugars like glucose and maltose. When the starch breaks down, the slurry becomes less thick. The more the starch breaks down, the less thick the slurry will be. This means that if there is a lot of alpha-amylase activity, the slurry will be very thin.

Understanding the Results

After stirring for 60 seconds, the stirring rod is dropped from the top of the test tube. The person doing the test measures how long it takes for the rod to fall all the way to the bottom. This time, measured in seconds, is the Falling Number.

The speed at which the stirring rod falls depends on how thick the slurry is.

• If the grain was very sprouted, it will have a lot of alpha-amylase.
• A lot of alpha-amylase means the starch breaks down quickly, making the slurry very thin.
• A thin slurry means the stirring rod will fall to the bottom very fast.
• So, grain that is more sprouted will have a lower Falling Number.

In short, the Falling Number value works in the opposite way to the alpha-amylase activity. If there's a lot of alpha-amylase activity, the Falling Number will be low. If there's not much alpha-amylase activity, the Falling Number will be high. This test helps millers and bakers know if their grain is good for making bread!