Biological Control of Aflatoxin Contamination of Crops

Abstract

Aflatoxin contamination of crops compromises the safety of food and feed supplies and causes significant economic losses each year. Of the many research approaches being studied to reduce and, ultimately, eliminate aflatoxin contamination, biological control is one of the more promising, particularly for the near‐term. Numerous organisms have been tested for biological control of aflatoxin contamination including bacteria, yeasts, and nontoxigenic strains of the causal organisms, Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. Most of the field successes to date have been achieved by applying certain nontoxigenic strains of A. flavus and A. parasiticus to soil of susceptible crops, such as peanuts, cotton, and corn. The applied strains occupy the same niche as the naturally occurring toxigenic strains and competitively exclude them when crops are susceptible to infection. Various formulations have been used to apply the nontoxigenic strains to soil, but the most effective methods have been to combine the desired s...