Influence of Crop Rotation and Minimum Tillage on the Population of Aspergillus flavus Group in Peanut Field Soil. Gary J. Griffin, Professor of Plant Pathology and Physiology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg 24061. Kenneth H. Garren, Plant Pathologist, Agricultural Research, Science and Education Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Tidewater Research and Continuing Education Center, Suffolk, VA 22437; and John D. Taylor, Research Associate, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Plant Dis. 65:898-900. Accepted for publication 9 March 1981. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1981. DOI: 10.1094/PD-65-898.

The influence of various sequences of corn, soybean, peanut, green manuring with sorghum sudangrass, fallow, and minimum-tillage soybean cropping on Aspergillus flavus group populations was investigated in field plots from 1975 to 1979. Planting corn in 1975 and peanut in 1976 were associated with significant (P=0.05) increases in the population of A. flavus group in soil the following years, compared with the fallow treatment. Populations increased primarily in the lower half of the plow layer following corn planting. Other crop sequences did not significantly affect A. flavus group populations.

Keyword(s): aflatoxin, inoculum potential.