Cereal Chem 56:545 - 547.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
A Staining Procedure to Determine the Extent of Bran Removal in Pearled Sorghum.

J. F. Scheuring and L. W. Rooney. Copyright 1979 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The completeness of bran removal during milling is difficult to determine for many sorghum grains. Two dye systems that stain the germ, pericarp, and starchy endosperm of sorghum blue, green, and pink, respectively, are useful to determine the completeness of milling. The May-Grunwald solution (0.5% methylene blue and 0.5% eosin-Y in methanol) and o.25% methylene blue and 0.75% eosin-Y in 70% ethanol are equally effective. Samples of pearled kernels from each of three varieties milled by three processes were stained. The exposed starchy endosperm, pericarp fragments, and germ tissue stained pink, green, and blue, respectively. The staining procedures were especially useful for sorghums with a white pericarp. The methods are simple and can be efficiently used in milling studies and in breeding programs to select for sorghums with improved milling properties.