A common regression for estimating dry-matter content of carbohydrate-containing commodities from specific gravity

For nine commodities that consist primarily of carbohydrates and water, corrections for intercellular space permit highly significant correlations between percent dry matter and corrected specific gravity. Drymatter contents for all commodities ranged from about 3 to 36%. Throughout this range the commodity mean values fall approximately on the regression line for specific gravity of sucrose solutions on dry matter percentage of the solutions, and the individual regressions often nearly coincide with the sucrose regression. It is suggested that, when intercellular space is accounted for, the sucrose regression is representative of commodities that consist primarily of water and carbohydrates.