Mung bean is highly susceptible to insect attack during storage. Hermetic storage is an effective technique to control insect damage. This study investigated the potential of the hermetic SuperGrain bag (SGB) for controlling bruchids during storage. The dry samples were packed in SGB infested with adult bruchids (SGB-I), SGB natural field infested (SGB-N), woven polypropylene bags (WPP-I and WPP-N) and kept at room temperature for 180 days. Oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were measured at 15 days intervals. Moisture content, infestation level, seed damage and weight loss were determined at 60 days intervals. Seed colour, hardness, crude protein and fat contents were analysed before and after storage. The O2 level decreased to 10.09%, whereas the CO2 level increased to 8.87% in both SGB-I and SGB-N treatments. The moisture content of mung bean was maintained as onset storage in both SGB-N and SGB-I treatments, whereas reduced in WPP-N (9.26% db) and WPP-I (9.21% db). In SGB treatments, no significant bruchids were detected, but they increased drastically in WPP-N (52 ± 9) and WPP-I (377 ± 14). Seed damage (2–3%) and weight loss (0.8–1.0%) were recorded in both SGB-N and SGB-I. Conversely, seed damage reached 26.67 and 54.17%, corresponding to weight losses of 12.33 and 20.82% in WPP-N and WPP-I, respectively. Seed colour, hardness, crude protein and fat contents in SGBs showed no significant changes than in the WPP bags. The study illustrated that the SGB is an efficient hermetic device in protecting mung beans against bruchids attacks compared to the WPP bags.

Seed quality is of great importance in optimizing the cost of crop establishment. Rapid and non-destructive seed quality detection methods must therefore be developed for agriculture and the seed production industry. This review focuses primarily on non-destructive techniques, namely machine vision, spectroscopy, hyperspectral imaging, soft X-ray imaging, thermal imaging and electronic nose techniques, for assessing the quality of agricultural seeds. The fundamentals of these techniques are introduced. Seed quality, including chemical composition, variety identification and classification, insect damage and disease assessment as well as seed viability and germinability of various seeds are discussed. We conclude that non-destructive techniques are accurate detection methods with great potential for seed quality assessment.

Primates are among the major groups of frugivores in the tropics, but little is known about their role in natural regeneration of African savanna ecosystems. In the savanna-forest mosaic of north-eastern Ivory Coast the olive baboon (Papio anubis Lesson) harvests fruit from at least 79 plant species. Over a 24-mo study period, 396 faecal samples from 10 groups of baboons were analysed in terms of quantitative and qualitative aspects of seed handling and dispersal (excluding grasses and sedges). Seventy-three per cent of seeds in faecal samples were undamaged. Intact seeds were from 65 species. On average, defecations contained intact seeds from 2.0 species (range = 0–10). Seed size varied between 1 and 27 mm, and 77% of the species had medium-sized to large seeds. No linear correlation between mean seed size and seed damage was found. Eighteen out of 19 species tested were viable after ingestion, but effects of gut passage upon germination varied widely. The baboon population in the study area (145 km2) dispersed an estimated 1483 intact seeds d−1 km−2 (129 seeds > 2 mm in size). The results suggest that the olive baboon is an important seed disperser in the savanna-forest ecosystem of West Africa.

Thirty-six cowpea cultivars were evaluated for their resistance to the pod-sucking bug, Clavigralla tomentosicollis Stål, in the screenhouse and in field experiments. Absolute resistance was not found in any of them, although cultivars with relatively low percentage seed damage were present. Seventeen cultivars were significantly less damaged than the susceptible check in the field experiments. Seven cultivars had less than 60% seed damage. Of these, TVu 3354, TVu 3355, TVu 3372, TVu 8525 and TVu 3199 were the least damaged. Per cent seed damage on cultivars in the field was not consistent with that in the screenhouse, because of the influence of other pod-sucking bug species and environmental factors.

Yield components such as 100 seed weight and the number of pods per plant were related to the resistance of the test cultivars to the bug attack. Cultivars with smaller seeds and more pods per plant were less damaged. The number of seeds per pod was not related to the degree of seed damage. Similarly, morphological parameters of the cultivars were not related to the degree of seed damage.

Seed yield loss was independent of the eggs laid on and damage to the buds, flowers and pods by the larvae of the borer, Adisura atkinsoni Moore at the 0.05% level. Loss in seed yield was dependent on seed damage. Seed damage, thus can be used to precisely locate a borer resistant Lablab niger cultivar, but in an already pre-selected germplasm.