Comparative study of hermetic and non-hermetic storage on quality of cowpea in Ghana

Abstract

Background: Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) serves as a major food and income generation crop for millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa and Central America. However, post-harvest losses associated with this crop still remain a critical issue of concern in most developing countries. This study was therefore carried out to investigate the effect of hermetic and non-hermetic storage on cowpea in plastic containers in the tropics. The cowpeas were stored in hermetic and non-hermetic containers over a period of 12 weeks. The parameters evaluated were the moisture content, insect infestation, usable proportion, and 1000 grain mass in both hermetic and non-hermetic systems. Results:The moisture content in the hermetic containers increased slightly from 11.7 to 11.9% compared to a sharp increase from 11.7 to 17.2% in the non-hermetic plastic containers. From the fourth week to the twelfth week, the number of live insects drastically reduced to zero in the hermetic system. In the case of the non-hermetic containers, the population of live insects/100 g of grains increased from 5 on week 0-71 on the twelfth week. Also, the mass of 1000 grains reduced from 156.50 g on week 0-145.21 g in the non-hermetically stored grains, while the hermetically stored grains recorded a decrease to 148.95 g. Finally, the usable proportion of grains in the hermetic system declined from 98.55 to 94.80% after 12 weeks of storage as compared to the drop to 85.69% seen in the non-hermetic system. Conclusions:Based on our findings, it was further concluded that hermetic storage could offer a better way of storing cowpea as compared to the non-hermetic system.

Effectiveness of high‐density polyethylene container and Super Grain Bag for the storage system of cowpea grain for smallholder farmers

“…The perforation of the plastic liner by insects compromise its hermeticity and allow interaction between the stored grain and the outside environment, which could potentially result in moisture content variation. In contrast to our findings, Aboagye et al, (2017) did not observe any significant change in the moisture content of the cowpea grain stored in hermetic systems for 12 weeks.…”

“…As the season shifted from the rainy weather conditions to dry, the stored grain tended to lose its moisture content. Previous studies have also reported variation in the moisture content of the grain stored in polypropylene bags to adjust with the environmental conditions (Aboagye, Darko, & Banadda, 2017; Chigoverah & Mvumi, 2016; Walker, Jaime, Kagot, & Probst, 2018).…”

Comparative performance of five hermetic bag brands during on-farm smallholder cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.Walp) storage

“…A previous side-by-side comparison of PICS and SGBs in Niger also concluded that the two products were equally effective in suppressing insect damage in cowpea grains stored for five months in a laboratory storage room at ambient temperature (28-29 o C) and relative humidity (5-30% rh) (Baoua et al, 2013). Effectiveness of hermetic containers was also reported by Aboagye et al (2017) in storage of cowpeas grain under laboratory conditions for up 12 weeks in Ghana. However, it is important that grain storage trials are conducted over long timeframes of up to 8 months which give farmers flexibility in controlling the timing of their sales to maximize income returns.…”

“…Hermetic storage bags -which provide pesticide-free, effective grain protection against storage insect pests (Murdock and Baoua, 2014;Aboagye et al, 2017) -are becoming increasingly important in SSA. A range of different hermetic storage bag brands are being marketed across SSA countries, including Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags, GrainPro Super Grain bags (SGBs) IVR™, ZeroFly ® hermetic storage bags and AgroZ ® bags.…”

Breeding Elite Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata(L.) Walp] Varieties for Improved Food Security and Income in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges

“…The attack normally leads to weight loss, decreased retail and nutritional value and reduced seed germination rate [27,41]. So far, chemical control coupled with the use of resistant varieties have offered the best response to resource endowed smallholder cowpea producers across SSA, which also use grain hardness as a key selection trait to reduce storage losses [42][43][44]. More recently, hermetic grain storage technologies have been promoted [44][45][46].…”