14 May Scientific storage of wheat grains
गेहूं अनाज का वैज्ञानिक भंडारण Agricultural commodities have to undergo a series of operations such as harvesting, threshing, winnowing, grading, bagging/packing, transportation and storage before they reach to the consumers. There are significant losses at all these stages. The most economically important step in case of the cereals like wheat is the storage of the grain produce. Storage is the interim phase in the chain of transporting agricultural products from farmers to consumers. Losses during the storage constitute a significant share of food grain loss in post production operations. With the production of nearly 87 million tonnes of wheat India has potential to meet the food requirement of the country. Losses in wheat production are generally noticed at various stages like threshing, transport and storage. Also the attack of rodents and birds lead to losses in grain production of wheat. Losses during storage are mainly due to attack by storage insect-pests, loss of moisture in grain, fungus infestation, rodent attack, and spillage. Since a huge amount of the wheat produce is lost during the storage of grains, various precautions need to be taken to prevent these losses. The time of harvesting in wheat plays a vital role. Wheat crop should be harvested, when the crop is at field maturity and grains become hard. If...