Nature-inspired wax-coated jute bags for reducing post-harvest storage losses

Abstract Post-harvest storage of grains is crucial for food and feed reserves and facilitating seeds for planting. Ironically, post-harvest losses continue to be a major food security threat in the developing world, especially where jute bags are utilized. While jute fabrics flaunt mechanical streng...

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Autores principales:	Kennedy Odokonyero, Adair Gallo, Himanshu Mishra
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/490b1595a5e449648e8dcf930c95521e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:490b1595a5e449648e8dcf930c95521e2021-12-02T16:31:02ZNature-inspired wax-coated jute bags for reducing post-harvest storage losses10.1038/s41598-021-93247-z2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/490b1595a5e449648e8dcf930c95521e2021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93247-zhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Post-harvest storage of grains is crucial for food and feed reserves and facilitating seeds for planting. Ironically, post-harvest losses continue to be a major food security threat in the developing world, especially where jute bags are utilized. While jute fabrics flaunt mechanical strength and eco-friendliness, their water-loving nature has proven to be their Achilles heel. Increased relative humidity and/or precipitation wets jute, thereby elevating the moisture content of stored seeds and causing fungal growth. This reduces seed longevity, viability, and nutritional value. To address this crucial weakness of jute bags, we followed a nature-inspired approach to modify their surface microtexture and chemical make-up via alkali and wax treatments, respectively. The resulting wax-coated jute bags (WCJBs) exhibited significant water-repellency to simulated rainfall and airborne moisture compared to control jute bags (CJBs). A 2 months-long seed storage experiment with wheat (Triticum aestivum) grains exposed to 55%, 75%, and 98% relative humidity environments revealed that the grains stored in the WCJBs exhibited 7.5–4% lesser (absolute) moisture content than those in the CJBs. Furthermore, WCJBs-stored grains exhibited a 35–12% enhancement in their germination efficacy over the controls. This nature-inspired engineering solution could contribute towards reducing post-harvest losses in the developing world, where jute bags are extensively utilized for grain storage.Kennedy OdokonyeroAdair GalloHimanshu MishraNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Kennedy Odokonyero Adair Gallo Himanshu Mishra Nature-inspired wax-coated jute bags for reducing post-harvest storage losses
description	Abstract Post-harvest storage of grains is crucial for food and feed reserves and facilitating seeds for planting. Ironically, post-harvest losses continue to be a major food security threat in the developing world, especially where jute bags are utilized. While jute fabrics flaunt mechanical strength and eco-friendliness, their water-loving nature has proven to be their Achilles heel. Increased relative humidity and/or precipitation wets jute, thereby elevating the moisture content of stored seeds and causing fungal growth. This reduces seed longevity, viability, and nutritional value. To address this crucial weakness of jute bags, we followed a nature-inspired approach to modify their surface microtexture and chemical make-up via alkali and wax treatments, respectively. The resulting wax-coated jute bags (WCJBs) exhibited significant water-repellency to simulated rainfall and airborne moisture compared to control jute bags (CJBs). A 2 months-long seed storage experiment with wheat (Triticum aestivum) grains exposed to 55%, 75%, and 98% relative humidity environments revealed that the grains stored in the WCJBs exhibited 7.5–4% lesser (absolute) moisture content than those in the CJBs. Furthermore, WCJBs-stored grains exhibited a 35–12% enhancement in their germination efficacy over the controls. This nature-inspired engineering solution could contribute towards reducing post-harvest losses in the developing world, where jute bags are extensively utilized for grain storage.
format	article
author	Kennedy Odokonyero Adair Gallo Himanshu Mishra
author_facet	Kennedy Odokonyero Adair Gallo Himanshu Mishra
author_sort	Kennedy Odokonyero
title	Nature-inspired wax-coated jute bags for reducing post-harvest storage losses
title_short	Nature-inspired wax-coated jute bags for reducing post-harvest storage losses
title_full	Nature-inspired wax-coated jute bags for reducing post-harvest storage losses
title_fullStr	Nature-inspired wax-coated jute bags for reducing post-harvest storage losses
title_full_unstemmed	Nature-inspired wax-coated jute bags for reducing post-harvest storage losses
title_sort	nature-inspired wax-coated jute bags for reducing post-harvest storage losses
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/490b1595a5e449648e8dcf930c95521e
work_keys_str_mv	AT kennedyodokonyero natureinspiredwaxcoatedjutebagsforreducingpostharveststoragelosses AT adairgallo natureinspiredwaxcoatedjutebagsforreducingpostharveststoragelosses AT himanshumishra natureinspiredwaxcoatedjutebagsforreducingpostharveststoragelosses
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Nature-inspired wax-coated jute bags for reducing post-harvest storage losses

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