Abstract There are various types of grain storage bags available to farmers in tropical countries. However, these bags differ in price, quality, and reduced post-harvest losses due to insect pests and mould infestation. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of three types of storage bags of Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS), Grain pro-super (GPS) and woven (WN) bags under assumed small farmer’s storage practices in the sub-tropical climatic conditions. The practice of weekly routine opening of the bags was compared with the recommended practice of keeping the bags closed for at least 3 months. Under laboratory experiment, insect population, moisture content, grain humidity, and temperature were measured at the weekly intervals while under farmer’s setting, moisture content (%) of maize and percentage of insect damage were measured after 3 and 6 months of storage at the farmer’s homestead. Considering the routine weekly opening effect, the PICS bag kept a low grain humidity average (56.6%) compared to the Grain pro-super bag (64.2%) and Woven bag (71.5%). The PICS bag reduced the insect population to an average of zero (0.4) compared to GPS (6.5) and the WN (14.8). Under farmer’s conditions, the mean difference in the percentage of insect damage between the PICS and GPS were insignificant (P > 0.05) at both 3 and 6 months of storage, and the insect damage throughout decreased with time. The results of this study indicate that PICS bag may support positively the practice of routine weekly opening compared to the GPS and WN in the sub-tropical climatic conditions.

中文翻译：

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农民管理条件下玉米粒密封储存袋的性能：良好实践与当地现实

摘要 热带国家的农民可以使用各种类型的储粮袋。然而，这些袋子在价格、质量和因虫害和霉菌侵扰而减少的收获后损失方面存在差异。本研究旨在比较在亚热带气候条件下假设小农的储存方法下，普渡改良作物储存 (PICS)、谷物亲超级 (GPS) 和编织 (WN) 三种类型储存袋的有效性。每周例行打开袋子的做法与保持袋子封闭至少 3 个月的推荐做法进行比较。在实验室实验中，在农民环境下，每隔一周测量昆虫数量、水分含量、谷物湿度和温度，玉米的水分含量 (%) 和虫害百分比是在农民的宅基地储存 3 个月和 6 个月后测量的。考虑到每周例行的打开效果，与 Grain pro-super 袋子 (64.2%) 和 Woven 袋子 (71.5%) 相比，PICS 袋子保持了较低的谷物湿度平均值 (56.6%)。与 GPS (6.5) 和 WN (14.8) 相比，PICS 袋将昆虫数量减少到平均为零 (0.4)。在农户条件下，PICS和GPS在贮藏3个月和6个月的虫害百分比的平均差异均不显着（P > 0.05），并且虫害自始至终随着时间的推移而减少。这项研究的结果表明，在亚热带气候条件下，与 GPS 和 WN 相比，PICS 包可能积极支持每周例行打开的做法。