EVALUATION OF PLASTIC AND STEEL BINS FOR PROTECTION OF STORED MAIZE AGAINST INSECT INFESTATION IN ..

The current study compared the effectiveness of plastic and steel bins as bulk storage structures for protecting maize from insect pest infestation in Ghana. The research was carried out at Ejura, which is located in the country's Middle Belt, from February 2016 to January 2017. As experimental treatments, untreated maize pre-disinfested using a solar biomass hybrid dryer was stored in either a 7-MT white plastic bin, a 7-MT green plastic bin, or a 6-MT Kikapu steel bin. Six 50 kg polypropylene (PP) bags filled with Betallic Super (80 g pirimiphos-methyl and 15 g permethrin per litre as an emulsifiable concentrate (EC))-treated maize (Check) and six 50 kg PP bags filled with untreated maize (Control) were also kept. The experiment was set up in a completely randomised fashion. Moisture content (MC), insect numbers and damage, and mycotoxin levels (aflatoxin and fumonisin) of maize were all measured on a monthly basis. Sitophilus zeamais, Cryptolestes ferrugineus, Cathartus quadricollis, and Tribolium castaneum were the most common insect pests found. Grain mean MC in the bins increased slightly from 12.5 percent to between 12.6 and 12.9 percent three months later, whereas MC in the control and Betallic treatments declined to 11.8 and 11.5 percent, respectively. However, by the end of the 12-month storage period, MC had increased to between 13 and 14 percent in all regimens. At the end of the trial, the percent IDK values in the control and other treatments were >17 percent and 3%, respectively. Over the storage period, mean grain weight losses in the three bin treatments did not exceed 1%. The levels of mycotoxin in the maize in the other treatments were lower than the required threshold, unlike the control. The findings of this study reveal that plastic and steel bins reduce insect pest infestation of stored maize, making them suitable for short- to long-term grain storage.

Please see the link :- https://www.ikprress.org/index.php/JOGAE/article/view/4952