Some Pests of stored food grains

Pests of stored food grains 

      

                   After harvesting, during the food grains in sunshine is essential to remove excess of moisture. The food grains should be dried by spreading them over plastic sheets or on cemented floor. The moisture content of the food grain should be lesser to ensure safe storage. 

                    Removal of straw, earthern particles, stone pieces and other weeds from the food grains is in the second step in storage. Finally the dried and cleaned food grains should be stored properly in gunny bags or grainsilos.

                      Vegetables and fruits get spoiled more easily than food grains like wheat and rice. Why? Because they contain higher moisture content. 30 to 40 percent of vegetables and fruit crops is damaged due to lack of proper storage facilities. 

                        Temperature plays a vital role in the storage of food grains. 30º C and lower temperature is suitable for storage, because insects and micro organisms are less active at low temperature. 

                     Six rats consume as much food grains as a man consumes. They destroy about five to six times of what they eat. Therefore, proper storage is necessary to protect the foodgrains from rats and pests. They not only consume foodgrains but also pollute the stored grains. Eating of contaminated food can use damage to liver.

                  The attack by insects, worms and micro organisms on the stored grains is called infestation. Infestation lowers the quality and finally and makes the foodgrains unfit for consumption.

                The following precautions should be kept in mind while storing foodgrains in gunny bags.

1. New gunny bags should be used for storing foodgrains. However, old gunny bags are used, after they have been washed in boiling water and dried in the sun shine.

2. The gunny bags should be clean, dry, cool and free from insects.

3. After filling the foodgrains, the mouth of gunny bags should be tightly stitched.

4. The grain filled gunny bags should be kept in such a way that they do not touch the walls of godowns.

5. Path ways are to be provided in the godown between the various stacks of grain filled bags.

6. Periodical inspection, spraying pesticides and fumigation to protect the stored grains are necessary.

7. Malathion, pyrethrum, DDT, aluminium phosphide and zinc phosphide are the pesticides used in the godowns. The pesticides used for killing rats are zinc phosphide and warfarin.