Development of rapid molecular techniques for insect fragment detection identification and quantification in wheat flour

Abstract

Wheat is one of the major cereal crops cultivated in India, and the production of newlinewheat in India has reached a milestone with 107.1 MT tonnes by 2020 (Ramadas et al., newline2019; USDA, 2021). Wheat is one of the primary crops grown, and whole-wheat flour is newlinethe crucial ingredient for bakery industries. The wheat flour industry in India is worth more newlinethan Rs. 15,000 crores. Globally, India ranks second in wheat production, despite the total newlinepost-harvest loss of 33.5 % in stored wheat and wheat flour (Nagpal et al., 2012). Food newlinecommodities are stored to cope with current and future demand and trade purposes for newlinevarying periods in different storage structures. During storage, the stored products are newlinesusceptible to attack by pests such as insects, mites, microbes, birds, and rodents, affecting newlinethe quality (Rajendran, 2005). Even after practising high sanitary and handling procedures, newlinethe stored commodities are being infested by stored product pests. Insects alone cause newlinesubstantial losses of stored grains, around 5-15 % during storage (Padin et al.,2002). The newlineglobal damage of food grains caused by the insect infestation is estimated to be 10 40% newlineannually (Asrar et al.,2016). In India, the economic losses caused by insect damage in newlinestored products is as high as 17.5% estimated at $8.63 million in 2010 (Dhaliwal et al. newline2010, Yadav et al. 2014) newline