An Overview of Research on the Management of Aflatoxin Contamination of Groundnut

Aflatoxin contamination of groundnut is one of the most important constraints to groundnut production in many countries. It is also of significance in relation to public health and exports (Pettit et al. 1989, Waliyar 1978 and 1990, Wynne et al. 1991). Most countries/institutions give high priority to research on the groundnut af- latoxin problem. Many national agricultural research systems (NARS) in Asia and Africa are faced w i t h this problem because of the difficulty in reducing aflatoxin contamination in groundnuts and groundnut products to an acceptable level for export. The concept of Aflatoxin Working Groups for Asia and Africa will help us to arrive at a better understanding of the actual research orientation of the activities of ICRISAT/NARS in Asia and Africa. This paper gives an overview of aflatoxin research worldwide to allow for better planning of ICRISAT's future activities w i t h NARS partners. A complete review and literature database on the groundnut aflatoxin problem is available at ICRISAT (Mehan et al. 1991)

ELISA: An Inexpensive and highly precise tools for estimation of aflatoxins

Agricultural products are often at risk of fungal invasion that can produce toxic metabolites called “mycotoxins”. Aflatoxins:Among these, aflatoxins are of economic importance because of their influence on the health of human beings and livestock, and on the marketability of agricultural products. It is essential to analyze food products to ensure their safety. In most developing countries limited or no facilities exist for monitoring these toxins in foods and feeds. They are based on physicochemical methods such as thin layer chromatography (TLC), and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). However, these are very expensive and may not be available everywhere..

Management of Aflatoxins in groundnut in Southern India

Aflatoxin contamination of groundnut is one of the most important quality constraints in the semi-arid tropics. The economic implications of aflatoxin problem and its' potential health threat to human/animals have clearly created a need to eliminate or at least control or minimize aflatoxin contamination of food and feed. The aflatoxins producing fungi.........

An improved field screening technique for resistance to rust and late leaf spot diseases in groundnut (1)

Field screening of germplasm lines at the ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India, is done under high disease pressure from Puccinia arachidis and Phaeoisariopsis personata [Mycosphaerella berkeleyi]. Problems were encountered in disease scoring when both diseases are severe. A technique is described using selective fungicides to screen groundnut genotypes for each disease individually under these conditions of multiple disease pressur

Resistance of Groundnut Varieties to Aspergillus flavus in Senegal

In four rainy seasons (1977-1980) 40 groundnut genotypes were screened for field resistance to Aspergillus flavus. Significant varietal differences were observed at harvest in levels of seed infestation by A. flavus. Field resistances were positively correlated with previously measured resistance to in vitro seed colonization by A. flavus in laboratory inoculation tests. The commercial variety 55-437 had high levels of resistance to A. flavus while two other varieties 73-30 and 73-33 also grown in Senegal had moderate levels of resistance. Genotypes with seed resistance to A. flavus had a lower proportion of A. flavus in their rhizosphere mycoflorae than had genotypes susceptible to seed invasion by this fungus

Diagnosis and Detection of Viruses Infecting ICRISAT Mandate Crops

Methods for the diagnosis and detection of plant viruses are described in this manual with particular emphasis on detection of important virus diseases of ICRISAT mandate crops. These include protein-based (ELISA and Western immunoblotting) and nucleic acid-based (PCR, RT-PCR and dot-blot hybridization) techniques, and methods for studying plant-virus vector interactions. Though the technology may appear complicated to beginners, every effort has been made to simplify the procedures by providing technical details in a step-wise manner, with description of underlying principles. The techniques described are applicable for the detection of any plant virus in general, albeit suitable modifications made to optimize the performance as per the needs

Although drought intensity increases aflatoxin contamination, drought tolerance does not lead to less aflatoxin contamination

Drought stress is known to increase aflatoxin contamination in groundnut and establishing a possible relationship between drought tolerance and resistance to aflatoxin contamination could contribute to a more efficient selection of aflatoxin-resistant genotypes. In recent work, the reference collection of groundnut had been assessed across seasons varying for drought intensity, i.e. two moderate temperature (rainy season) and two high temperature (dry season) experiments under well-watered (WW) and water stress (WS) conditions (Hamidou et al., 2012 and Hamidou et al., 2013). Here aflatoxin concentration (AC) in seeds is measured in these trials, first for possibly identifying germplasm with low aflatoxin concentrations and second for investigating possible relationships between aflatoxin concentration and drought tolerance. Drought stress intensity increased aflatoxin concentration in seeds and higher aflatoxin contamination was observed under combined drought and high temperature conditions than under drought alone. No germplasm with lower AC than resistant check (55-437) were found. Aflatoxin contamination showed very high GxE interactions, which suggest that selection for resistance to aflatoxin contamination must be specific to environment. Across trials, using means for each environment, there was a clear positive relationship between the aflatoxin concentration and the grain yield reduction due to drought, indicating that a higher drought severity led to higher aflatoxin concentration. However, within trial, the same relationships applied to individual genotypes, or to cohorts of tolerant/sensitive genotypes, were not significant. The major conclusion of this work is that while drought intensity did increase the level of aflatoxin contamination, as expected and previously reported, there seemed to be no direct relationship between tolerance to drought and aflatoxin concentration, suggesting that the mechanisms of drought tolerance and aflatoxin contamination are likely not common

Beyond the gene horizon: sustaining agricultural productivity and enhancing livelihoods through optimization of crop and crop-associated biodiversity with emphasis on semi-arid tropical agroecosystems

Increasing international attention is being given to the role and productive value of biological diversity in agriculture. Recognizing the potential of agricultural biodiversity and the services it provides will be key to meeting future food needs while maintaining and enhancing other goods and services, such as clean air and clean water, provided by agricultural ecosystems. FAO and ICRISAT are joining forces to further the understanding of the contribution of crop and crop-associated biodiversity (C-CAB) in sustainable agriculture in the semi-arid tropics (SAT). In order to address some of the key components of C-CAB, FAO and ICRISAT organized a joint workshop in late September 2002. The meeting was intended to generate animated exchanges between experts from different disciplines. Its outputs aim to provide a first step, not only in further understanding the role and value of main components of C-CAB for sustainable agriculture production intensification and livelihoods benefits, but also in identifying linkages and synergies between components of C-CAB in production systems for strategic interventions