Cereal Chem 57:255 - 257.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Aflatoxin Contamination of Preharvest Corn: Role of Aspergillus flavus Inoculum and Insect Damage.

E. B. Lillehoj, W. F. Kwolek, E. S. Horner, N. W. Widstrom, L. M. Josephson, A. O. Franz, and E. A. Catalano. Copyright 1980 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Twelve corn hybrids (Zea mays L.) were planted in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee on two dates during 1978 to examine the interaction between hybrids, field environments, planting date, and Aspergillus flavus Link ex Fr. infection of developing kernels. At harvest, a broad occurrence of aflatoxin was observed in the samples, with no significant differences among hybrids. Silk channels of treated ears were inoculated with A. flavus spores; kernels from the inoculated ears exhibited significantly higher levels of toxin than did those of the controls. Insect damage of ears was assessed at harvest by visual examination; a trend of increased toxin levels was associated with greater damage. Presence of bright greenish yellow fluorescence in corn samples was closely linked to the occurrence of high levels of aflatoxin (greater than 300 ppb), but corn samples with no detectable toxin also routinely exhibited fluorescencing particles.