FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY
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Item COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF NOVEL LOW-COST MOISTURE METERS SUITABLE FOR GRAIN MOISTURE MEASUREMENT(Department of Zoology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 2013) Ajao S.K.Monitoring grain quality is an importa. * postharvest activity which starts at harvest, continuing during stcage and up to the point of sale. High moisture in stored maize can be detrimental to food safety because of the likelihood of aflatoxin contamination and other forms of deterioration. Moisture meters are devices which provide real-time access to measuring moisture levels thereby allowing farmers .' m eet grain quality requirements. A newly developed low- co ^ moisture meter known as the Post-Harvest Loss (PHL) moisture meter is a device with potentials for massive deployment among smallholder farmers. This study was therefore set up to compare the efficiencies of some existing moisture meters co m’ ared with this newly developed device. Two commercially available moisture meters — Dickey john GAC 2100 and John Deere me ters were compared with the PHL moisture meter and oven- dried method (ASABE standards) used as control. Maize grains from a bagged storage experiment were used as samples over a 12- month period. Results showed that the moisture meters had a positive difference of <3% MCwb relative to oven-dried method. Average measurements showed variances of 2.34, 1.08 and 0.56% MCwb for John Deere, PHL and GAC 2100 meters respectively, when compared with the oven-dried method. Thus, it was concluded that the low cost PHL moisture meter may serve as an effective alternative to the more expensive types and may be relatively easy to adopt for laboratory and field use among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.Item Conference proceedings(Nigeria, 2024) Omobowale M.O.A low cost meter was developed as part of a USAID funded Feed the Future project headquartered at Kansas State University to reduce post-harvest loss (PHL) of grains and is referred to as the PHL moisture meter. It actually measures the temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) of the air space between grain kernels and calculates the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) to determine grain moisture. The meter was built and evaluated in laboratory studies in the U.S. and field tested in Ghana and Nigeria. Meter accuracy was compared to two commercial meters: (a) John Deere Chek Plus-SW08120 grain moisture tester and (b) bench top DICKEY-john GACO2100 Agri meter. The portable JD meter is a low cost meter by developed country standards (~US$250, 2016 price), whereas the GAC2100 benchtop moisture meter is a USDA-GIPSA-approved tester that is highly regarded in the US grain trade and has been used for many years. Laboratory studies indicated that the PHL moisture meter requires approximately six minutes to make a measurement due to the time required for the probe tip and sensor to equilibrate to the air within the grain mass. Field tests have shown the accuracy of the PHL moisture meter was comparable to that of the GAC2100 moisture meter for maize below 15% MCwb. Measurement differences averaged over many readings showed a positive offset of 0.45% for the PHL meter relative to the GAC2100, whereas the John Deere SW08120 moisture meter was found to have an offset of 2.37% MCwb.