Paper Title
First Ever Documentation of Diversity of Insects associated with the Stored Grain Commodities in Jammu District, J&K, India
Abstract
This paper is a first report on the diversity of stored grain insects from the Jammu district. The stored grain pests infest grains and other Pantry items to fulfill their food and shelter requirements resulting in qualitative as well as quantitative losses. The climate of Jammu is highly favorable for continuous occurrence of storage insect pests throughout the year. These destroy and contaminate kitchen commodities with their fecal matter and undesirable odors and flavors and make them unfit for human consumption, thus, posing a serious health hazard. This is the reason that the post-harvest loss in India accounts for about 10% of the total grains and 9.5% of total pulses. 16 insects under two orders namely Coleoptera (81.25%) and Lepidoptera (18.75%) were recorded during the study on stored grains and their processed alternatives and other Pantry commodities within human dwellings in Jammu from 2017-2018. Of these, 9 insects have been recorded for the first time in the district, all belonging to order Coleoptera.
Keywords - Stored Grain Insect Pests, Household Insects, Post-harvest Loss.