Abstract
Field evaluation of six grain storage technologies under hot and arid conditions (32–42 °C; rainfall < 450 mm/year) in two locations in Zimbabwe were conducted over two storage seasons. The treatments included three hermetic technologies (Purdue Improved Crop Storage bags, GrainPro Super Grainbags, metal silos); three synthetic pesticide-based treatments; and an untreated control, all using threshed sorghum grain. Sampling was at eight-week intervals for 32 weeks. Highly significant differences (p < 0.01) occurred between hermetic and non-hermetic treatments regarding grain damage, weight loss, insect pest populations, and grain moisture content; with the hermetic containers exhibiting superior grain protection. Weight losses were low (< 3%) in hermetic treatments compared to pesticide-based treatments (3.7 to 14.2%). Tribolium castaneum developed in metal silos, deltamethrin-incorporated polypropylene bags and a pesticide treatment containing deltamethrin 0.13% and fenitrothion 1% while Sitotroga cerealella developed in a pesticide treatment containing pirimiphos-methyl 0.16% + thiamethoxam 0.036%. Mechanisms of survival and development of these pests in the tested treatments and under similar climatic conditions need further elucidation. These hermetic technologies can be successfully used by smallholder farmers in developing countries as alternatives to synthetic pesticides for protecting stored-sorghum grain under hot and arid climatic conditions to attain household food security. To our knowledge, this is the first published study on modern hermetic storage of sorghum grain under typical smallholder storage conditions and involving stakeholders.
Highlights
Field evaluation of six grain storage technologies under hot and arid conditions (32–42 °C; rainfall < 450 mm/year) in two locations in Zimbabwe were conducted over two storage seasons
The objective of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of a range of hermetic grain storage technologies compared to synthetic pesticide-based treatments on sorghum grain stored under hot and arid conditions
Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags consist of two inner liner bags each made of 80 microns thick high-density polyethylene (HDPE), details of the oxygen transmission rate were not available from the manufacturer
Summary
Field evaluation of six grain storage technologies under hot and arid conditions (32–42 °C; rainfall < 450 mm/year) in two locations in Zimbabwe were conducted over two storage seasons. Mechanisms of survival and development of these pests in the tested treatments and under similar climatic conditions need further elucidation These hermetic technologies can be successfully used by smallholder farmers in developing countries as alternatives to synthetic pesticides for protecting stored-sorghum grain under hot and arid climatic conditions to attain household food security. Projections suggest that food demand in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will triple from 2014 levels to meet the anticipated doubling of the region’s population to around 2.1 billion people by 2 0501,2 This will be challenging to achieve as in many parts of SSA, crops can only be harvested once per year and may fail when prevailing climatic and edaphic conditions are unfavourable, a situation likely to be exacerbated by climate change and increasing climate variability. The growing demand for pesticidefree and insect pest-free food products highlights the need for researchers and farmers to evaluate pesticide-free hermetic storage technologies[24] as alternative options to synthetic chemical grain storage pesticides
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