ABSTRACT
Ensuring food security in developing countries is highly challenging due to low productivity of the agriculture sector, degradation of natural resources, high post farming losses, less or no value addition, and high population growth. Researchers are striving to adopt newer technologies to enhance supply to narrow the food demand gap. Nanotechnology is one of the promising technologies that could improve agricultural productivity via nano fertilizers, use of efficient herbicides and pesticides, soil feature regulation, wastewater management, and pathogen detection. It is equally beneficial for industrial food processing with enhanced food production with excellent market value, elevated nutritional and sensing property, improved safety, and better antimicrobial protection. Nanotechnology can also reduce post-farming losses by increasing the shelf life with the aid of nanoparticles. However, further investigation is required to solve the safety and health risks associated with the technology.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Owing to fluctuations of international market prices and excess supply during peak harvesting seasons, farmers and traders often suffer from a low market price of sesame. Such a negative impact can be ameliorated by taking advantage of times with a better market price during the off season. This study aimed to investigate the impact of different storage containers on gravimetric properties and germination capacities of five different sesame varieties as well as their impact on Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella). RESULTS: There were differences among the types of storage containers in terms of moisture content, oil content, thousand seed weight, and germination capacity with the storage duration. However, in terms of bulk density, true density, and porosity, the results were consistent. On average, a few losses in thousand seed weight for varieties stored in Purdue Improved Crop Storage bags (1.7%), metal silos (2.4%), and GrainPro bags (3.4%) were observed during 12 months' storage compared with polypropylene bags (17%). The difference among sesame varieties in terms of weight loss and loss of webbing due to P. interpunctella varied with storage duration. On average, about 9.4% weight loss and 5.7% loss due to webbing was measured for seed stored in polypropylene bags due to the natural infestation of P. interpunctella. No pest was found in hermetic containers. CONCLUSION: In general, to fetch better market prices, the use of hermetic storage is more efficient to maintain the desired gravimetric properties and to prevent losses due to P. interpunctella infestation compared with the commonly used woven polypropylene bags. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.
