Estimation of rodent damages to stored maize and wheat in rural Swabi, Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55627/zoobotanica.002.03.0948Keywords:
Pests, grain losses, stored products, contamination, storage structuresAbstract
The presence of rodents in storage structures is one of the major reasons for post-harvest losses in many parts of the world, including Pakistan. In developing countries, rodents are considered a serious pest in household food storages, causing several kinds of losses. To control grain losses, it is necessary to estimate the actual post-harvest damages to the stored grains. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to assess post-harvest storage losses due to rodents in maize and wheat grains stores of District Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The results showed that there were 10.91±1.04 fecal droppings, 7.58± 0.67 rodent hairs, and 28.58 + 2.02 damaged grains per 100 gram of maize. The mean weight loss of 509 + 68.7 was recorded from the maize stores. Likewise, there were 16.25±0.77 droppings, 12.41 + 0.76 hairs and 21.41 + 1.26 damaged grains per 100 gram of wheat. The mean weight loss of 483 + 46.2 was reported from the wheat stores. These finding indicate that rodents were negatively impacting storage structures in the area and proper pest management strategies are required to minimize post-harvest crop losses.
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