An official website of the United States government.
<OL> <LI> Determine the effects of genetic traits, climatic factors, agronomic practices, pest populations, machine harvesting, and drying on the quality of cereals and oilseeds. <LI> Assess effects of postharvest microbial growth, insect infestation, chemical usage, drying, and handling on quality of cereals and oilseeds during storage and transport. <LI> Quantify and define quality of cereals and oilseeds for end use markets. <LI> Determine the economic impact of improving the quality of cereals and oilseeds
Non-Technical Summary: Maintaining and improving postharvest grain quality is tantamount in providing a secure supply of food for consumers. Quality of grain is challenged by pest insects for both the domestic and international markets. This project examines the potential suppression of pest insects using low temperature aeration. If aeration can reduce insecticide use commodities may be viewed as safer by consumers and also be more desirable on international grain markets. <P> Approach: For objective A and B, we will focus on quantifying the insect pest fauna of wheat and barley stored in the northern Great Plains. Extensive sampling of bins at multiple locations will be used to provide a faunal record. Pest species will be quantified. For objective C and D the economic value of using low temperature aeration strategies will be assessed by measuring time to chilling, airflow rates, and costs of equipment. Paired bins at multiple locations are the source of this data, with pairwise comparisons being used for matching bins, one fitted with aeration and the other as an unaerated control. Pest insect species will quantifed in both types of bins over a storage season using pitfall trapping and grain trier sampling. Aeration may provide a replacement for a considerable portion of inseticide based suppression of stored product insects in this geographical area.