Presence of aflatoxins in recently harvested corn
Guzmán de Peña, D.; Mathieu, L.; Peña-Cabriales, J.J.
Revista Latinoamericana de Microbiologia 27(3): 249-252
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0187-4640 PMID: 4095408 Document Number: 259780
A study was conducted to assess the extent of natural contamination of corn by species of the Aspergillus flavus group, as well as aflatoxin production under field conditions. Samples [32] of recently harvested corn were used to determine: (i) % of germination; (ii) mycoflore; (iii) bright yellow greenish fluorescent particles; (BYGF = AVAF); (iv) aflatoxins. The study was performed using 4 cultivars of corn (VS-373; V-370; H-366; H-220) grown for seed production in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. Penicillium and Fusarium were the genera more commonly isolated from the kernels, whereas Aspergillus was never detected. No correlation was observed between the number of AVAF and the presence of aflatoxin. In fact, no aflatoxin was detected in any sample despite the high number of AVAF determined in some of them. Presumably environmental conditions favored only the formation of Kojic acid.