Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), Food Crops Research Institute-Kabete, P O Box 14733-00800, Nairobi, Kenya.
Bull Entomol Res. 2021 Aug;111(4):499-510. doi: 10.1017/S0007485321000213. Epub 2021 Mar 26.
The performance of six grain storage technologies for the control of insect pests in maize was evaluated over a 36-week (9-month) storage period. The six technologies used were: two ZeroFly® hermetic bag brands (laminated and non-laminated); Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bag; non-hermetic ZeroFly® bag; woven polypropylene (PP) bag containing maize grain treated with Actellic Gold® Dust (pirimiphos-methyl 1.6% + thiamethoxam 0.3%) and woven PP bag containing untreated grain. Each bag was filled with 50 kg maize grain and four replicates of each were set up. With the exception of the non-hermetic ZeroFly® bag, 50 live adults of the larger grain borer Prostephanus truncatus and of the maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais, were introduced into all the bags. Insects were not introduced into the non-hermetic ZeroFly® bag to assess its effectiveness in repelling infestation from outside. Parameters recorded were gas composition (oxygen and carbon dioxide) levels inside the bags; weight of flour generated by insect feeding activities; grain moisture level; live adult insect counts; grain damage and weight loss; grain germination rate and aflatoxin level. At termination, the plastic liners of the hermetic bags were examined for perforations. Results show that oxygen depletion and carbon dioxide evolution were faster in ZeroFly® hermetic compared to PICS bags. Throughout the 36-week storage trial, grain damage remained below 4% and weight loss below 3% in all the treatments except in the untreated PP bags in which it increased to 81.1 and 25.5%, respectively. The hermetic PICS, ZeroFly® and Actellic Gold dust-treated PP bags maintained grain germination at 60%, which was lower than the initial 90%, while in untreated control, it reduced to 4.7%. The mean aflatoxin levels fluctuated between 0.39 and 3.56 parts per billion (ppb) during 24 weeks of storage in all the technologies tested, which is below the acceptable maximum level of 10 ppb in maize. Based on the evaluation results, it can be concluded that hermetic PICS and ZeroFly® bags and woven PP bag with Actellic Gold dust-treated grain effectively protected stored maize grain from insect attack and weight losses. Appropriate strategies and mechanisms for the effective and efficient adoption of hermetic storage bag technology at scale would contribute towards global food security.
六种谷物储存技术在玉米中的防虫性能在 36 周（9 个月）的储存期内进行了评估。这六种技术分别为：两种 ZeroFly®密封袋品牌（层压和非层压）；普渡改良作物储存（PICS）袋；非密封 ZeroFly®袋；含有经 Actellic Gold® Dust（吡虫啉 1.6%+噻虫嗪 0.3%）处理的玉米的编织聚丙烯（PP）袋；以及含有未经处理的玉米的编织 PP 袋。每个袋子中装满 50 公斤玉米，每种袋子设置四个重复。除了非密封的 ZeroFly®袋之外，所有袋子中都引入了 50 只大谷蠹和玉米象的成虫。未向非密封的 ZeroFly®袋中引入昆虫，以评估其防止外部侵扰的效果。记录的参数包括袋内气体组成（氧气和二氧化碳）水平；昆虫取食活动产生的面粉重量；谷物水分含量；活成虫数量；谷物损坏和重量损失；谷物发芽率和黄曲霉毒素水平。在试验结束时，检查了密封袋的塑料衬里是否有穿孔。结果表明，与 PICS 袋相比，ZeroFly®密封袋中的氧气消耗和二氧化碳释放更快。在整个 36 周的储存试验中，除了未经处理的 PP 袋外，所有处理的谷物损坏率均保持在 4%以下，重量损失均保持在 3%以下，未经处理的 PP 袋中，谷物损坏率分别增加到 81.1%和 25.5%。密封的 PICS、ZeroFly®和经 Actellic Gold 粉尘处理的 PP 袋保持谷物发芽率为 60%，低于初始的 90%，而在未处理的对照中，发芽率降至 4.7%。在所有测试的技术中，黄曲霉毒素水平在 24 周的储存期间波动在 0.39 至 3.56 十亿分之几（ppb）之间，低于玉米中可接受的最大 10 ppb 水平。根据评估结果，可以得出结论，密封的 PICS 和 ZeroFly®袋以及经 Actellic Gold 粉尘处理的编织 PP 袋有效地保护了储存的玉米免受昆虫侵害和重量损失。采用有效的密封储存袋技术的适当策略和机制，将有助于实现全球粮食安全。
