evaluation on correlation between aflatoxigenic aspergillus flavus growth and aflatoxin b1 production with elements and protein percentage in pistachio kernels of different cultivars

abstract in order to investigate correlation between the rate (amount) of micro and macro elements and protein percentage in pistachio kernels of six cultivar including: akbari, abbasali, kaleh gouchi, ahmadaghaie, ouhadi and khanjari with aspergillus flavus growth and aflatoxin b1 production, the amount of micro and macro elements were measured using atomic absorption, micro-kjeldhal digestion, flame photometric and spectrophotometeric methods. the protein percentage of pistachio kernels was measured using macro-kjeldhal method. in order to calculate the a. flavus growth and aflatoxin b1 production on pistachio kernels, one isolate of aflatoxigenic aspergillus flavus was used. twenty gram of pistachio kernels of mentioned cultivars were taken with 3 replications, and were surface sterilized and then inoculated with one ml of spore suspension (2×106 spores/ml) of a. flavus. eight days after inoculation, growth rate and colonization of a .flavus on pistachio kernels were measured. aflatoxin content of samples was extracted by bf method and estimated by tlc and densitometer. correlation coefficient (r) was calculated for elements and protein percentage with a .flavus growth and aflatoxin production, the results indicated that there was a significant relationship between n (negative correlation) and mn (positive correlation) and a. flavus growth, as well as n, p and na and aflatoxin b1 production. also there was a significant correlation between protein percentage and a. flavus growth and aflatoxin production.