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Relationship of Harvesting Methods and Laboratory Drying Procedures to Fungal Populations and Aflatoxins in Peanuts in Oklahoma. G. L. Barnes, Associate Professor, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater 74074; H. C. Young, Jr., Professor, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater 74074. Phytopathology 61:1180-1184. Accepted for publication 5 May 1971. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-61-1180.

Dominant fungi in harvested peanut pods in 1965 were Fusarium spp., Penicillium spp., and Alternaria tenuis. Fusarium spp., Trichoderma viride, and mucoraceous species (Rhizopus sp. and Mucor sp.) were dominant in 1966. Aspergillus flavus was rarely isolated either year. Populations from machine-combined pods were not significantly different from those of hand-picked pods except for mucoraceous species, which were greater in combine-harvested pods. Aflatoxins were found in all 1965 samples, but only in a few 1966 samples. Aflatoxins were not correlated with presence of A. flavus, but were correlated with isolations of A. tenuis.