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Post-Harvest Pathology and Mycotoxins

Aflatoxin Production and Fungal Growth on Single Cross Corn Hybrids Inoculated with Aspergillus flavus. J. C. LaPrade, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology, Pee Dee Experiment Station, Florence, South Carolina 29501; A. Manwiller, Associate Professor of Agronomy, Pee Dee Experiment Station, Florence, South Carolina 29501. Phytopathology 66:675-677. Accepted for publication 4 December 1975. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-66-675.

A water suspension of Aspergillus flavus conidia was introduced to exposed corn silks, placed in contact with nondamaged seeds, and forcefully injected into one and three seeds per ear of six corn hybrids four times at 3-week intervals from the time silks first appeared. Fungal infection occurred on and aflatoxin was recovered from all six hybrids, but only where inoculum was forcefully injected into seeds. Maximum fungal infection occurred during mid-growing season when ears were inoculated in the late milk- to early dough stage. The extent of fungal infection did not vary among the six hybrids following inoculation at any given stage of development; however, toxin production varied significantly among the hybrids.