Quality Analysis of The Wheat Grains Stored in Different Bins Over Time

Grain quality maintenance and storage losses are a big challenge for the world. The losses and grain quality issues are attributed to the storage structures and conditions. Thus, there is a dire need to improve and evaluate the existing and newly developed structures. Keeping in view the necessity, this study was conducted to evaluate various storage structures to assess performance in preventing grain losses during storage. Six treatments, viz, EB (earthen bin), MB (metallic bin), ATFB (airtight ferrocementbin), FVFB (forced ventilated ferrocement bin), ATMB (airtight metallic bin),and FVMB (forced ventilated metallic bin) were replicated thrice in the randomized complete block design. The effect of storage periods with the interval of three months was also assessed. Six indicators were invoked to obtain the results, namely; stored grain temperature (°C), moisture content (%), germination (%), insect-pest infestation (%), weight loss due to insect infestation (%), aflatoxin level (μg kg-1). The results revealed that there is a significant association between storage structure, storage period, and grain quality. The traditional structures (EB and MB ) were observed to affect the tested quality parameter significantly (p> 0.05). While modern structures (ATFB, FVFB, ATMB, and FVMB) maintained the quality parameters within the permissiblelimit. However, an airtight ferrocement bin (ATFB) showed significantly better results among all treatments. Therefore, farmers are suggested to utilize airtight ferrocement bins to store and maintain wheat grain quality for various purposes.