Nutritional Evaluation of Wheat (Triticum aestivum: Poaceae) Varieties Infested with Rhizoglyhphus tritici (Acari: Acaridae)

Stored grain mites are found worldwide, but infestation is difficult to detect due to their small size. Despite extensive taxonomic studies on mites, further research is required to evaluate the nutritional losses caused by their infestation. In this study, we assessed the nutritional composition and varietal differences of the wheat varieties, Faisalabad-08 and Sehar-06, infested with Rhizoglyphus tritici (Bashir, Afzal, Honey and Khan) after one, three and six months of storage at 25 ± 2 °C and relative humidity of 70 ± 5%. The results showed significant variations in thousand kernel weight (TKW), moisture, crude protein (CP), crude fat (CF), crude fiber, ash and nitrogen-free extract (NFE) of wheat grains and wheat flour. The mite population in Sehar-06 increased significantly, reaching 6562 individuals after six months at the highest infestation level (T3). Over the six-month period, both wheat varieties experienced a reduction in thousand kernel weight (TKW), with Sehar-06 showing a greater decrease. Sehar-06 also showed the largest increase in moisture content, rising from 16.10% in the control to 17.87% in T3 after six months. It also had significant decreases in crude protein (CP) and crude fat (CF), from 14.35% and 1.31% in the control to 11.55% and 0.57% in T3, respectively. Crude fiber and ash increased, whereas nitrogen-free extract (NFE) decreased from 65.64% in the control to 62.12% in T3. These findings provide valuable information on the nutritional impact of mite infestation in stored wheat for farmers, grain storage managers and food manufacturers.