[01] Muhammad Sarwar, Nuclear Institute for Agriculture & Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

Provision of healthy food has always been a challenge facing by mankind. It has been estimated that between one quarter and one third of the world’s grain crops are lost each year during storage and much of this is due to insects attack. In addition, grain which is not lost is severely reduced in quality and quantity by insect’s damage. Many grain pests preferentially eat out grain embryos, thereby reducing the protein content of food grain and lowering the percentage of seeds to germinate. In the present article identification of stored food grain insect pests species and various controlling methods are discussed in detail along with emphasis made on the use of non-chemical control procedures. Stored grain insects are divided into primary pests that attack whole kernels, and secondary pests that feed on broken or cracked grain. Some important stored grain pests include the lesser grain borer, rice weevil and rust red flour beetle. The stored food insects often cause as much loss after harvest as crop pests cause during the growing season and profits from producing a crop should not be allowed to waste away in storage. Insect pests also increase costs to grain growers both directly through the expenses of control on the farm, and indirectly through the costs incurred by grain handling authorities in pests controlling within bulk storages. For food store insect’s management, prevention, detection and elimination are the steps to pest management needs. The further steps to prevent and control of insects damage are, keep bins clean and repaired, use residual sprays, store only clean and dry grain, aerate the grain, protect the grain, and inspect the grain regularly. Other, common ways to pests control are use of oldest products before newer ones and opened packages before unopened ones. Inspect packages or bulk products before buying and choose packages that are sealed and unbroken. Also check the freshness, packaging date and look for evidence of insects, including holes in the packaging or wrapping, and store insect-free foods in tightly closed glass, metal, or heavy plastic containers.

Food Damage, Population Density, Storage Pest, Weight Loss

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