Cereal Chem 66:139-144   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Inhibition Radioimmunoassay for Aspergillus repens Compared with Other Indices of Fungal Growth in Stored Corn.

S. L. Martin, J. Tuite, and M. A. Diekman. Copyright 1989 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

An inhibition radioimmunoassay (IRIA) was developed to measure the growth of Aspergillus repens in corn kernels. A. repens in kernel extracts can be measured over a range of 0.25-100 micrograms per determination, equivalent to 10-4,000 micrograms per gram of corn. High-quality seed corn adjusted to 17.0% moisture (wet basis) was stored at 26 C for 52 days after inoculation with 1 x 10(3) conidia of A. repens per gram. Quantitation of A. repens by IRIA was compared with eight other indices of fungal proliferation and seed deterioration: internal seed infection, number of fungal propagules, blue eye, sporulation visible at 3x and 10x magnification, evolved CO2, seed germination, and ergosterol content. Results of the IRIA were significantly correlated with all indices; the highest correlations were with ergosterol content and evolved CO2 (r = 0.96 and 0.99, respectively).