Sorghum Grain Storage Methods and Fungal Contamination in Ethiopia

Select Volume / Issue:

• Volume 9,Issue 4, July 2022

Year:

2022

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

Mycotoxin, Contamination, Storage Practices, Sorghum, Storage Fungus

Authors:

Fufa, Negasa

Journal:

IJRAS

Volume:

9

Number:

4

Pages:

121-131

Month:

July

ISSN:

2348-3997

Abstract:

In Ethiopia, sorghum is the main staple food crop for humid and semi-humid areas. The experiment was conducted to identify grain sorghum storage practices used by the farmers and their effect on fungal contamination in Ethiopia. The data were analyzed using a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA, SAS version: 9.4) and the mean differences were separated by a t-test (LSD). 80% of Hararghe farmers stored grain sorghum in underground pits. A significantly high mean value of 19.39 and 18.40% of damaged grains was recorded in the sample taken from west Hararghe and south Wello. A maximum of 89.33% germination was recorded in the grain sorghum collected from Asosa. Seven fungal species, F. oxysporum, F. poae, F. Gramineae, Alternaria, A. flavus, A. niger, and Penicillium were identified from the samples. The incidence and frequency of Aspergillus niger were 63.42 and 55.98%, respectively, in the samples collected from East Hararghe. Although fungal species associated with the production of mycotoxin were identified from the sorghum grains, aflatoxin types were detected below the limits of detection of 0.6µg kg and limits of quantification of 2.0µg kg. From this study, it can be concluded that using underground pits favors high weevil infestation and storage fungi development due to contamination of soil in the bottom, side, and top of the pits. The storage pits are regularly dug for the opening, which was labored because of unloading for consumption, to check for damaged weevils. Repeated uses of insecticides hurt human health.

Full text: IJRAS_1076_FINAL.pdf [Bibtex]