A survey of the sulphur content of wheat grown in Britain

In a survey of the sulphur content of wheat grown on British farms in 1981 and 1982 the percentage of sulphur in the grain ranged from 0.13% to 0.21%, equivalent to 0.11–0.18% at 14% moisture content, with a mean of 0.17%. The nitrogen‐to‐sulphur ratios, indicators of baking quality, were 11.5:1 and 13.1:1 in 1981 and 1982, respectively. The larger value in 1982 is attributed to the crop taking up much nitrogen during the exceptionally wet June. The ratio, however, was not critical in any sampler. Mean sulphur contents computed for ADAS regions showed that, generally, grain grown in the English Midlands, Eastern counties and South East contained the most sulphur, and that in Scotland least. Maps of both sulphur content and the proportion of sulphur that occurs as sulphate were made by simple block kriging with blocks 14 × 14 km. These showed that above‐average sulphur contents occurred mainly in a belt of country extending from London to the West Midlands and South Yorkshire, with a maximum in the vicinity of Peterborough. Crops grown in Scotland contained least. The pattern corresponds closely with the deposition from the atmosphere predicted by the Central Electricity Research Laboratories. The distribution of sulphate as a percentage of total sulphur also had a marked regional pattern with largest concentrations in Cheshire, South Yorkshire, Fife and the rural Midlands of England.