3.2.2. Dry Matter Loss Dynamics

The DML followed a similar temporal increase at both aw levels depending on the inoculum position (Figure 4c,d) and reflected the respiration rates (see Figure 4a,b). However, there was a more linear increase earlier than that for the respiration rate. At the end of the colonisation period (days 6 for bottom-side, and day 5 for top-centre and bottom-centre inoculations) the DML was significantly affected by aw levels (*p*-value = 0.001) and the inoculation position (*p*-value = 0.002). The DMLs were higher at 0.97 aw than in the slightly drier 0.95 aw treatment (0.60 ± 0.07 vs. 0.51 ± 0.09% respectively). As observed for respiration, grain colonisation initiated from the bottom-side position proceeded more slowly and generated more DML (0.64 ± 0.06%) by the time the grain was completely colonised than the top-centre (0.53 ± 0.08%) and bottom-centre (0.49 ± 0.06%) treatments.

The ANOVA analysis at the end of the experiment (day 10) suggested a significant effect of both aw (*p*-value = 0.018) and inoculation position (*p*-value < 0.0001) treatments, and for the interaction between these two factors (*p*-value = 0.003). The 0.95 aw top-centre, 0.97 aw top-centre and 0.97 aw bottom-centre treatments were very similar. The remaining treatments again grouped together and had significantly lower DMLs than the other group of treatments.
