Physico-chemical changes in insect infested wheat stored in different storage structures

Effect of insect infestation on nutritional quality of wheat stored in jute bags, peru, polythene bags and metal bins was studied by following changes in physical properties (weight, per cent damage and density), proximate co mposition, energy value, non-protein nitrogen (NPN), uric acid, true protei ns, feed efficiency ratio (FER) and protein efficiency ratio (PER). With in crease in storage period, significant decreases in weight, density, crude f at, calorific value and true proteins were observed, whereas moisture, ash, crude proteins, crude fibre, non-protein nitrogen and uric acid increased significantly (P<0.05). Changes were maximum in wheat, stored in jute bag a nd minimum in wheat stored in metal bin. Nature of packaging was found to p lay an important role in determining the extent of infestation damage.