Corn produced in the southeastern United States has higher levels of aflatoxin than corn produced in the Corn Belt states of the Midwest (Zuber et al.,1976). Because corn acreage has increased recently in Louisiana, there is a growing concern among corn producers regarding levels of aflatoxin in their grain. Although the most effective control of A. flavus and aflatoxin contamination is through...

Mycotoxin contamination levels in maize kernels are controlled by a complex set of factors including insect pressure, fungal inoculum potential, and environmental conditions that are difficult to predict. Methods are becoming available to control mycotoxin-producing fungi in preharvest crops, including Bt expression, biocontrol, and host plant resistance. Initial reports in the United States an...

Aspergillus niger, a mold commonly associated with Aspergillus flavus in damaged corn, interferes with the production of aflatoxin when grown with A. flavus on autoclaved corn. The pH of corn-meal disks was adjusted using NaOH-HCl, citric acid-sodium citrate, or a water extract of A. niger fermented corn. Aflatoxin formation was completely inhibited below pH 2.8-3.0, irrespective of the system ...

In this study, we investigated the binding ability of Saccharomayces cerevisiae to aflatoxin in pistachio nuts. The obtained results indicate that S. cerevisiae has an aflatoxin surface binding ability of 40% and 70% (with initial aflatoxin concentrations of 10 and 20 ppb) in the exponential phase. Acid treatments increase this ability to approximately 60% and 73% for the two concentrations of ...

ABSTRACT Aflatoxins are toxic, highly carcinogenic secondary metabolites of Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, which when produced during fungal infection of a susceptible crop in the field or after harvest contaminate food and feed and threaten human and animal health. Although there are several management strategies that may reduce aflatoxin contamination of corn, the preeminent strategy ...

AIMS To evaluate the potential role of fungal community structure in predisposing Kenyan maize to severe aflatoxin contamination by contrasting aflatoxin-producing fungi resident in the region with repeated outbreaks of lethal aflatoxicosis to those in regions without a history of aflatoxicosis. METHODS AND RESULTS Fungi belonging to Aspergillus section Flavi were isolated from maize samples ...

Contamination of crops with aflatoxin, a naturally occurring toxin produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, frequently reduces the value and marketability of crops. The selection of resistant germplasm has great potential to reduce this problem, but highly quantitative nature of the trait makes this a difficult endeavor. However, to derive commercial benefit from these resistance mark...

Aspergillus flavus, the causal agent of aflatoxin contamination, is a natural inhabitant of soils. A. flavus can be divided into two strains, S and L, with S strain isolates having a greater aflatoxin contamination potential than L strain isolates. Aflatoxin contamination can be severe in several crops in South Texas including cottonseed and corn. A. flavus communities in soils of South Texas c...

Pseudomonas fluorescens strain 3JW1, which has a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, was studied to investigate whether it affects the amounts of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) produced by Aspergillus flavus. It was found that the bacterium reduced the amounts of AFB1 in potato dextrose broth (PDB) and peanut medium by 97.8% and 99.4%, respectively. It also reduced AFB1 by ~183 μg/kg (55.8%) when appli...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES The present study was carried out on stored rice variety PAU 201 in Punjab that was not permitted for milling and public distribution due to the presence of damaged grains at levels exceeding the regulatory limits of 4.75 per cent. The aim of the study was to determine fungal and aflatoxin contamination in the rice samples to assess hazard from the presence of damaged gr...