Abstract
Peanut pods are easily infected by aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus sp.ecies from field soil. To assess the aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus sp. in different peanut field soils, 344 aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus strains were isolated from 600 soil samples of four agroecological zones in China (the Southeast coastal zone (SEC), the Yangtze River zone (YZR), the Yellow River zone (YR) and the Northeast zone (NE)). Nearly 94.2% (324/344) of strains were A. flavus and 5.8% (20/344) of strains were A. parasiticus. YZR had the highest population density of Aspergillus sp. and positive rate of aflatoxin production in isolated strains (1039.3 cfu·g−1, 80.7%), the second was SEC (191.5 cfu·g−1, 48.7%), the third was YR (26.5 cfu·g−1, 22.7%), and the last was NE (2.4 cfu·g−1, 6.6%). The highest risk of AFB1 contamination on peanut was in YZR which had the largest number of AFB1 producing isolates in 1g soil, followed by SEC and YR, and the lowest was NE. The potential risk of AFB1 contamination in peanuts can increase with increasing population density and a positive rate of aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus sp. in field soils, suggesting that reducing aflatoxigenic Aspergillus sp. in field soils could prevent AFB1 contamination in peanuts.
Highlights
Peanuts (Arachishypogaea L) are an important economic crop in China, with its annual production being the highest on a global level at 16 million tons in 2015
Aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus species were isolated from all the 600 soil samples collected from the four agroecological zones in China
This study has shown that A. flavus is the dominant species in peanut soil fungal population in all the agroecological zones, with widespread aflatoxigentic strains
Summary
Peanuts (Arachishypogaea L) are an important economic crop in China, with its annual production being the highest on a global level at 16 million tons in 2015. Which produces aflatoxins that are carcinogenic to humans and animals [4,5]. Aspergillus species, and since peanut pods grow underground, they are in direct contact with the soil fungal population [5,6]. Aflatoxins have the potential to cause outbreaks of acute hepatitis and even liver cancer in animals and humans [7,8]. Of the naturally occurring aflatoxins, AFB1 is known for its toxic and carcinogenic nature [9,10]. In China, AFB1 predominantly contaminates peanuts, with an average rate of 86.2% of the total aflatoxins and a correlation coefficient of 0.99 [11]
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