POST HARVEST PROTECTION OF CEREALS ,MILLETS,AND PULSES USING

BIOTECHNOLOGY
&

GENES INVOLVED IN PLANT DEVOLOPMENT

 cereals

• Cereals, grains, or cereal grains are grasses] cultivated for the edible

components of their fruit seeds the endosperm, germ, and bran.
Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities and provide more food
energy worldwide than any other type of crop; they are therefore 
staple crops.
• In their natural form (as in whole grain), they are a rich source of 
vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, oils, and protein. However,
when refined by the removal of the bran and germ, the remaining 
endosperm is mostly carbohydrate and lacks the majority of the
other nutrients. In some developing nations, grain in the form of rice, 
wheat, millet, or maize constitutes a majority of daily sustenance. In 
developed nations, cereal consumption is moderate and varied but
still substantial..
 POST HARVEST PROTECTION OF CEREALS

The Post-Harvest section of Cereals provides ideas and solutions for

improved drying, reduction of damage and wastage.

The milling and polishing of raw rice results in losses of 75% of vitamin B .56% of
riboflavin but parboiling reduces losses bt has some disadvantages like unplesent smell
,colour changes which has been overcome buy modern methods.
In modern rice milling the cleaned paddy grains are first debulled in a huller without
damage to bran layer and rice kernel followed by separation of husked rice.the husked
rice is then polished to romove the germ pericarp and aleurone layers.

• Prevention and Control of toxins :

•) Wheat should be stored at safe place away from moisture.
•) Prevent the growth of fungi by proper drying of grains.
•) Use proper and scientific storage method.
•) Prevent insect infestation and fungus contamination by adopting
•prophylactic / curative chemical treatment.
•) Infested grain should be separated
PACKAGING :

It must protect wheat in good condition and long lasting.

19 ¾ It must be clean and convenient to handle and carry out from the store
easily.
¾ It must be identifiable and attract consumers.
¾ It must resist spoiling.
¾ It must be informative about wheat i.e. name and address of the packer,
pack size, quality / grade, quantity, variety and date of packing etc.

TRANSPORTATION :
In the distribution of cereal, the means and cost of transport play an
important role. The cost of transport is the major factor responsible for the
wide differences, which exist between prices in surplus and deficit areas.
20 The wheat is transported in bulk and bags from field to market.
STORAGE.

Harvested grains normally contain 20 per cent moisture content

whereas for storage,
around 12 per cent moisture is recommended. The drying is
achieved by natural or mechanical
resource. Moisture content more than 13 per cent at
temperatures 30 to 40
0
C make wheat
susceptible to moulds causing musty odour, discolouration and
lower flour yield
 MILLETS

The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal 

crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and 
fodder. They do not form ataxonomic group, but rather a
functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are
that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult
production environments such as those at risk of drought.
They have been in cultivation in East Asia for the last 10,000
years.[1]
POST HARVEST PROTECTION OF MILLETS

The unit operations involved in pearl millet are sun drying of stalks.thershing
,cleaning , winnowing ,processing ,bagging and storage.

Pearling of pearl millets to About 8% polish leaves most of the germs intact and
is nutritative value is not seriously affected .

TRANSPORT

Transportation of millet starts immediately after harvesting within the farm. For
farmers who do not prefer drying their crop in the field, they transport the millet in
bags to their homestead where the heads are spread out on the sun to dry. Some
farmers in central parts of Tanzania transport their millet by wrapping the crop in a
piece of cloth which is loaded on to donkeys and transported to the homestead
(Figure 14 a). Alternatively, whole crop may be tied up by rope and transported using
donkeys
THRESHING
Threshing is the removal of grain from harvested plant or plant part (Acland,
1921). Threshing of millet is done manually by women and men. It entails
beating the millet heads with sticks or clubs repeatedly until almost all the
grains are detached from the heads. 

 DRYING
Information on the drying of millet is meagre (McFarlane et al., 1995). Millet grains
harvested during rainy season may be left to dry in the field for up to two weeks. Further
drying if required is completed after threshing on mats laid down on the sun, or plastic
sheets

 CLEANING
Cleaning refers to separation of contaminants from produce, and complete removal
of the contaminants so that the cleaned produce is free from re-contamination. The
contaminants for millets may be sand (soil), small stones, leaves, shrivelled seeds, off-
type seeds, broken seeds, glumes, sticks, chaff, parts of stems, insects, animal hair,
animal excreta (e.g. rat and insect faeces) and more annoyingly, metal pieces. Metal
pieces, if not removed, may damage the sieves of the milling machines if mechanized
grinding is used. 
Packaging
After threshing, drying and cleaning, millets are usually bagged in to 100 kg
hessian/sisal bags and sealed ready for transportation to distant markets (personal
experience). Sometimes millet grains may be packed in bags sewn from artificial
polythene bags for either transportation or storage.
 

STORAGE-
Most millets have excellent storage properties and can be kept for up to 4-5 years in simple
storage facilities such as traditional granaries. This is because the seeds are protected from
insect attack by the hard hull covering the endosperm, and because grain is usually
harvested and stored in dry weather conditions (FAO and ICRISAT, 1996). Thus, although
there may be large year to year variations in production, stock can be easily built up over
the years.
Millets may be stored, after drying and threshing, as loose grain in bags or loose containers
(McFarlane et al., 1995 ). They are commonly left on the field, prior to threshing, in stacks or
piles of harvested plants. The detached heads may also be stored away from the field, in
exposed stack or in traditional storage containers. 
 PULSES

• A pulse is an annual leguminous crop yielding from one to

twelve seeds of variable sizeThis excludes green beans and
green peas, which are considered vegetable Pulses are
important food crops due to their high protein and 
essential amino acid content. Like many leguminous crops,
pulses play a key role in crop rotation due to their ability to 
fix nitrogen.
 POST HARVEST PROTECTION OF PULSES

Milling of pulses involves removal of outer husk i.e dehusking followed by splitting
of grains into two equal halves.Dehusking of plses poses a problem and requires
some pre-milling treatments which help in improving dal recovery.
THRESHING AND WINNOWING:
It has been reported that during threshing about 0.63 percent losses and 0.61 percen
t losses in winnowing are occurred. In order to reduce the losses, threshing and winnowing
operations are required to be completed within a short period through improved
equipments on the pucca platform.
(ii) TRANSPORT LOSSES:
During transportation, it has been observed that 0.67 percent losses are occurred in
transporting the produce from the field to threshing floor. Losses to the tune of 0.19 percent
for transporting produce from threshing floor to storage. Efficient and quick
transportation supported by good packaging material is necessary to reduce the losses.
(iii) PROCESSING:
Due to use of old and outdated methods in processing, the loss at
this stage has been reported to be upto 1 percent. To reduce the
milling losses and to increase the output, improved dal milling
method developed by C.F.T.R.I, Mysore should be adopted.

STORAGE:
Due to improper and inefficient methods of storage, the loss about
7.5 percent Is estimated during storage. Quantitative losses mainly
results from spoilage, driage or portion of produce, infestation by
insects, rodents or birds. Improved scientific storage fac
GENES INVOLVED IN PLANT DEVOLOPMENT

FRUITS-

NO APICAL MERISTEM (NAM)

ZWILLE GENE (ZLL) - Act in devolopment of embryo

FBP24 ANDABS- Are necessary to determine the identity of the enothelial layer within
the ovule.

SEED STICK (STK)- It is required for the normal devolopment of the funiculusthat
connects the devoloping seeds to fruit.and fordispersal of the seeds when the fruit
matures.
PHERES1 (PHE 1)- Is expressed in the embryo and endosperm
after fertilization and is thought to play a role in seed
devolopment.

fusca 3 (fus 3)- seeds with purple colouration.

LEAFY COTYLEDON (LEC)- are required for the initiation /

maintanance of maturation/morphogenesis of seed.

Pinoid (PID) AND ENHANCER OF PINOID- required for the

initiation of cotyledon devolopment.
 SHOOT

CUP –SHAPED COTYLEDON (CUS 1)-Activates the expression of shoot apical meristem gene
to induce adventitious shoot formation.

WUSCHEL (WUS)- Devolopment of shoot apical meristem in the embryo domain protein .

KWOTED- Maintanance of gene in apical meristem.

SHOOT- MERISTEMLESS (STM)- Shoot apical meristem formation during embryogenesis

MGOUN(mgo)-Initiation of lateral organ formation from shoot apical meristem.

GLABRA 1 (GL1) –This gene encodes a MYB family protein that acts as a positive regulator
of trichome devolopment in shoots.
 LEAF

GLABROUS (GL)- Trichome formation from leaf epidermal cell.

AGRONAUT (Agoi)- Leaf devolopment can be controlled.

ANGUSTIFOLIA (AN)- Regulates the width of leaves.

KNOX GENE-Making leaflets instead of single leaf

ARP GENE -Control the leaf blade grows out of its stalk.
FLOWER --

APETALA 1 (AP1)- Define the patterns of floral organs arise.

APETALA 2 (AP2)

SEPALLATA(SEP)-Origin of flower
SEP 3 –Inner whorls of flower initiation.

LEAFY (LFY)-Genes involved in establishment of flower meristem and organ

identity matter .
CLAVATA (CLV 1)
CLV3,ETTIN(ETT)-No flower organs gene.

LUMINI DEPENDENS (LD)-Control flowering time.

CONSTANS (CO)-Late flowering gene.

CYCLOIDEA(CYC)- Radially symmetrical flower phenotype.

APETALA 3 (AP3) AND PISTILLATA(PI)

Confirmed the complexity of the processes of stamen and petal
formation.

TERMINAL FLOWER(TEL)
CENTRORADIALIS(CEN)-
Maintain the meristamatic activity of the inflorescence meristem.
ROOT

SHORT ROOT AND SCARECROW(SCR)-Specify patterning of the ground tissue in the

vegetative root.

Establishment of root cortex and endodermis from the ground tissue.stabilize

endodermal cell.

Werewolf(wer)-Acts in the root epidermis as a positive regulator non hair cell

devolopment.

GLABRA2(GL2)
TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA (TTG)-Required for the devolopment of both trichromes in
non hair cell roots .
 REFERANCES
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millet
• http://agmarknet.nic.in/profile_wheat.pdf
• Handbook of agriculture
• http://www.fao.org/inpho/content/compen
d/text/ch18_01.htm