Post-harvest practices for aflatoxin control: Evidence from Kenya

Aflatoxin Control During Plant Growth and Harvest of Corn

Extensive aflatoxin occurrence in corn both before and after harvest has prompted investigation to identify conditions contributing to crop infection by toxin-producing fungi. This presentation will attempt to summarize the preliminary observations of fungal-corn associations in the field in response to concern about this type of aflatoxin contamination. In the fall of 1972, a study of field co...

Harvest and Post-harvest Operations

Harvest and post-harvest operations constitute principal constraints to rice production, especially in irrigated systems, because of the larger yield that has to be handled. Post-harvest crop losses of up to 35% have been reported and attributed to inefficiency of manual threshing of rice by small-scale farmers. This leads to poor grain quality and rejection of locally produced rice. The Africa...

Aflatoxin levels in locally grown maize from Makueni District, Kenya.

OBJECTIVES Investigations were carried out to determine aflatoxin levels in household maize in Makueni District and to correlate aflatoxin levels to maize drying and storage practices. Also, aflatoxin exposure in villages that reported aflatoxicosis cases in 2005 was compared with that in villages that did not report cases to assess whether aflatoxin exposure levels could be used to identify hi...

Delivery systems for biological control agents to manage aflatoxin contamination of pre-harvest maize.

While soil application of a competitive non-toxigenic Aspergillus flavus strains is successful in reducing aflatoxin contamination in certain crops, direct application to aerial reproductive structures could be more effective for maize. A sprayable, clay-based water-dispersible granule formulation was developed to deliver non-toxigenic A. flavus strain K49 directly to maize ears. The efficacy o...

Plant Growth Control: Biological, Chemical, Physical and Post-harvest Parameters