Forage labs generate consistent starch results!
Cumberland Valley Analytical Services, Inc
Laboratory services for agriculture, from the field to the feedbunk!
A client challenged us to compare starch values across labs concerned that our values were not consistent with competitors.? Above is a summary of results of dried ground samples sent to three major forage laboratories along with CVAS results, by NIR analysis.
The consistency of the data is rather amazing.? There is a slight lab bias but probably not enough to be statistically significant.? The standard deviation for starch across labs for evaluated samples is much lower than what would be encountered in sampling variation at the farm.?
Sampling variation at the farm and subsampling of material at the lab does bring significant variation into results.? That is why it is important to base results for programming on multiple samples.? That may be from two samples taken at the same time or samples taken over a shorter time frame.