Assessing Storage Insect Pests and Faecal dropping of Rodent in Stored Grains in two districts of Southwestern Ethiopia

This study was designed to assess major insects and occurrence of rodent infestation in stored grain in two districts of south western Ethiopia. Omo Neda and Bako Tibe districts were purposively selected supported their potential growing of maize and sorghum grain, and high postharvest losses in these selected areas. A total of 160 farmers’ stores from both districts were randomly selected. The grain samples used in the present study were stored for 5 different time periods, ranging from 1 to 5 months and from the same farmers’ stores, to identify storage insect pest and to determine grain weight loss and insect damage. The results showed that the dominant insect species in maize and sorghum grains were weevils (Sitophilus spp.) followed by the Angoumois gelechiid (Sitotroga cerealella Olivier) and flour beetles (Tribolium spp.). High numbers of insects were recorded from both plastered and un-plastered gombisa and polypropylene bags. Additionally, the amount of every insect pest in each storage container recorded per 100 g grain increased because the duration of grain storage increased. There have been 0.33–1.29 and 0.44-1g droppings per 100-g sample of maize and sorghum grain, respectively. Grain damage showed significant differences over the storage periods across the study districts. A similar trend was observed for weight loss for each of the grains in all districts. These results indicated that farmers are incurring a substantial grain loss to insects and rodent pests. Hence, there is an urgent need to devise appropriate tactics for protecting the losses in farm-stored maize and sorghum in Ethiopia.