The Effect of Postharvest Fungicide Application on Storage Fungi of Corn During Ambient Air Drying and Storage. D. G. White, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana 61801. J. Toman, D. C. Burnette, and B. J. Jacobsen. Postdoctoral Research Associates; and Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana 61801. Plant Dis. 77:562-568. Accepted for publication 3 February 1993. Copyright 1993 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-77-0562.

Corn grain was treated immediately after harvest with the fungicides benomyl (0, 1, 5, and 10 µg/g), thiabendazole (0, 5, 10, and 20 µg/g), and A9248 (0, 5, 10, and 20 µg/g) in 1984, and with thiabendazole (0, 10, and 20 µg/g) and A9248 (0, 5, 10, and 20 µg/g) in 1985 to determine the effect of the fungicides on infection by storage fungi during ambient air drying and storage. After treatment, the grain was augured into modified grain bins and dried with ambient air. The incidence of storage fungi was determined following plating of kernels on malt salt agar. Fungicide treatments reduced the incidence of Penicillium species, and in some cases Aspergillus species, when compared to the nontreated control. The use of low rates of fungicides offers an additional control of storage fungi that can be integrated into currently used control techniques.

Keyword(s): maize, Zea mays, low-temperature drying.