Reaction of Maize Varieties to Aspergillus flavus and Aflatoxin Production

Aflatoxins, are very toxic mixture and having the potential to cause cancer, produce by some the fungi, mostly Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, during their growth, harvest and storage on crops such as wheat, corn, cottonseed, peanut, pistachio, etc. For appraising the reaction of maize varieties to A. flavus growth and produced aflatoxin, five varieties of maize, namely KSC400, KSC403, KSC600, KSC703, KSC704, were selected. An isolate A. flavus that produce afalatoxin was used for inoculation of maize kernels (as in vitro conditions). In a statistic completely random design with three replications, 10 gr of kernels of selected cultivars were inoculated with 1×106 spores/ml of fungal spore suspension. After eight days, the percentage of fungal growth and the colonization of maize kernels were calculated. The aflatoxin B1 produced in contaminated all maize cultivars were measured with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Statistical analyses showed a significant difference (α=0.05) between the fungal growth percentages and the amount of aflatoxin B1 in the kernels of tested maize cultivars. Also, the results showed that among mentioned varieties, KSC600 was the least susceptible variety to the growth of Aspergillus. The amount of produced aflatoxin B1 was variable among the varieties. KSC600 had the least whereas KSC403 had the highest rate of aflatoxin B1 content.