determination of the effect of drying time, method and storage conditions on aflatoxin prevalence, moisture content levels and physical damage in serenut 2 groundnut variety in kasilo town council, serere district

Description

A study was conducted to deteremine the effect of drying time, method and storage conditions on aflatoxin prevalence, moisture content levels and physical damage in Serenut 2 groundnut variety in Kasilo Town Council, Serere District. The experiment was set up following a completely randomized design at the laboratory in NaSSARI. The four treatments included; seeds dried on bare soil vs seeds dried on cement and seeds dried for four days vs seeds dried for seven days. Data was collected by counting the number of seeds infested with aflatoxins from a random sample of 30 seeds per treatment. Data was collected on the seed moisture content and physical damage of seeds due to varying storage durations. Data was collected at intervals of 6, 12 and 18 weeks respectively from the time of setting up the experiment to the time of experiment termination.Six and eighteen weeks after storage, few seeds which were dried on bare soil for seven days had less aflatoxin mold infections from a sample of 30 seeds. However, twelve weeks after storage, few seeds that were dried on cement for seven days had less aflatoxin mold infection. On the contrary, six, twelve and eighteen weeks after storge, many seeds which were dried on bare soil for four days from a sample of 30 seeds had the highest level of aflatoxin mold infestation. Storage conditions and drying methods had slight effects on moisture content level and physical damage of groundnuts seeds. At storage conditions (temperature, 24oC and relative humidity, 56%), groundnuts dried on cement for seven days had the lowest moisture content while groundnuts dried on bare ground for four days had the highest moisture content during storage. Furthermore, At storage conditions (temperature, 24oC and relative humidity, 56%), groundnuts dried on cement for seven days had the lowest physical damage while groundnuts dried on bare soil for four days had the highest physical damage. Drying of seeds on cement for seven days is effective in the control of aflatoxin infection. Drying of seeds on cement for seven days is very important in reducing seed moisture content to desirable levels of storage. Moreover, physical damage of groundnut seeds is minimized when they are dried for seven dayson cement due to reduction in objects such as; stones which physically injure the seeds. Research should be done on effect of storage conditions on rancidity of Serenut 2 groundnut variety. Research should also be done on the effect of storage conditions on the sensory attributes of groundnuts. Furthermore, research should be done on effect of storage conditions on prevalence of Salmonella bacteria species in groundnuts.