Assessment of the Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bag for maize storage in Ghana

Despite the recent introduction of improved grain storage methods and technologies, many smallholder maize farmers in Ghana still use traditional storage practices and structures for storing their maize grains after harvest. This practice contributes to the high post-harvest losses in maize grain at the smallholder level largely due to insect pest infestation. Hermetic bag storage is a proven technology effective in reducing grain damage and losses from insect pests. In this study, the efficacy of the Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bag was compared with a polypropylene (PP) bag stored with maize treated with Betallic Super EC chemical and PP bag stored with maize without Betallic treatment (Control) during a 6-month storage period. Data on grain moisture content (MC), number of live insects, insect damaged kernels (IDK) and maize weight loss were collected monthly for analysis. Grain viability and nutrient analysis were also conducted before and after storage. The results showed initial grain moisture content of 11.4% was not significantly affected in the PICS bags but increased by 1-2% in the PP bags. Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags and Betallic treatment significantly reduced insect damage grains with mean weight loss of < 5% and 6.35 % respectively compared to the control (PP bag without Betallic) treatment with mean weight loss of 21 % over the 6-month storage period. Germination rate of sampled seeds after storage in the PICS bags (75 %) was not significantly different to the initial germination rate (78 %) compared to the control (PP bag without Betallic) treatment of 56 %. Overall, maize grains stored in the PICS bags showed no signs of deterioration as compared to grains in the PP bags. The PICS bags were superior to the PP bags in terms of other grain quality metrics assessed and the nutrient characterization such as protein and carbohydrate which had no significant difference (p<0.05) between the initial and the three treatments. The results showed that PICS bags can be effective in protecting maize grains during storage. Smallholder farmers are therefore encouraged to consider this technology especially for controlling insect pests of stored maize.