Abstract
Storage fungi are among the major factors causing post-harvest deterioration of crop produce worldwide. However, their association to the major factors that contribute to fungal contamination under storage conditions remains under studied in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa including Ethiopia. Therefore, the current work was carried out with the objectives to identify major factors that contribute to fungal contamination of wheat grains under storage conditions. For this purpose mycological analysis was carried out using 180 wheat grain samples collected from three major wheat growing zones (Arsi, West Arsi and Bale) of South East Ethiopia. Results of the mycological analysis revealed the contamination of wheat grains by fungal species at different locations and storage time with different frequencies. Fungal contamination of samples indicated that highest incidence was observed at West Arsi (96.98%) followed by Bale (91.76%) and Arsi (86.43%). Fungal contamination also varied with storage period with the highest incidence of (98.62%) followed by (89.78%) and (86.77%) was observed after six months, upon harvest and three months of storage, respectively. The highest fungal incidence (98.62%) was recorded after six months storage of wheat grain. Fungal incidence was highly associated with two of the independent variables, namely, temperature and relative humidity of storage in a logistic regression model. However, there is no significant association (p<0.05) with grain moisture content and storage type of wheat grains under storage conditions.
Highlights
Results of the current study agree Baloch, who reported that deterioration of wheat grain is closely related to the moisture content, which intron is influenced by temperature and relative humidity of the storage structure [26]
This result is in agreement with the result of Mannaa and Kim, who suggested that the optimum temperature for fungal growth and mycotoxin production can vary between 24 and 30°C depending on the fungal strain and substrate type [27]
Niaz reported that the lowest number of fungi were obtained in seeds with 8% moisture content followed by 12%, 16% and 20%, stored at 4°C and 25°C, and heavy fungal infections (98100%) were reported on maize seed after 30 days of storage when moisture level was 20% at all temperatures (25°C, 35°C and 40°C) [22]
Summary
Fusarium, Penicilliumand Aspergillus, all potential mycotoxin producers, could be considered as the most significant toxigenic fungi growing in processed and stored foods [4]. Due to their capability to develop in a wide range of environmental conditions, fungi in the genus Aspergillus are comparatively more widespread than others [5]. Especially temperature and humidity, play a very important role in this process [6] Microscopic fungi and their metabolites, mycotoxins, are often found as contaminants in agricultural products before or after harvest as well as during transportation or storage.
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