Cereal Chem 52:403 - 411.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Aflatoxin Incidence and Association with Bright Greenish-Yellow Fluorescence and Insect Damage in a Limited Survey of Freshly Harvested High-Moisture Corn.

E. B. Lillehoj, W. F. Kwolek, D. I. Fennell, and M. S. Milburn. Copyright 1975 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Freshly harvested corn (40-45% moisture) from the 1972 crop was examined for Aspergillus flavus-induced bright greenish-yellow (BGY) fluorescence and for aflatoxin. Sample ears were screened for insects that could provide access for fungal infection. After the ears had been dried and shelled the corn was cracked, examined under an ultraviolet light, and extracted for aflatoxin assay. Samples from 5% of the test ears exhibited BGY fluorescence while those from 2.5% of the test ears contained aflatoxin B-1 in excess of 20 ppb. Essentially all of the toxin-containing samples were BGY-positive. Aflatoxin was detected in significantly more earworm-damaged samples than in those with no insect damage. Dramatic differences in BGY fluorescence incidence, aflatoxin occurrence, and insect damage were observed between test areas. No aflatoxin-positive samples were found in the seven fields of southern Illinois corn and in about two- thirds of 62 fields of southeastern Missouri corn. There was no association between recorded agronomic practices followed in the test fields and subsequent aflatoxin contamination.