VIEW ARTICLE

Moisture Content, Moisture Transfer, and Invasion of Stored Sorghum Seeds by Fungi. C. M. Christensen, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55101. Phytopathology 60:280-283. Accepted for publication 9 September 1969. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-60-280.

Ad- and desorption moisture contents of sorghum seed exposed to relative humidities of 75, 80, and 85% were 14.9-15.8, 15.9-16.6, and 17.0-17.5%, respectively. At moisture contents of 14.5% and above, wet wt basis, invasion by storage fungi and decrease in germinability were proportional to increasing moisture content and to increasing time of storage. A temperature difference of 12-14 C in grain on opposite sides of containers in sorghum originally of 14.3% moisture resulted in rapid transfer of moisture from the warmer to the cooler portion of the grain. That portion of the grain in which the moisture accumulated became heavily invaded and decayed by storage fungi.