Reaction of Iranian Almond Cultivars to Toxigenic Aspergillus flavus

Mehdi Mohammadi-Moghadam ¹ ( Crop and Horticultural Sciences Research Department, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of Semnan Province (Shahrood), AREEO, Shahrood, Iran )
Mahdi Naeimi ² ( Department of Plant Protection, Damghan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Damghan, Iran )
Seyed Reza Fani ³ ( Plant Protection Research Department, Yazd Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Yazd, Iran )
Bita Esmaeili ⁴ ( Department of Plant Protection, Damghan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Damghan, Iran )
  ⁵ ( Plant Protection Research Department, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of Semnan Province (Shahrood), AREEO, Shahrood, Iran )

Submited date : 2022-10-26 Accepted date : 2022-12-19

Keywords: Contamination, Mycotoxin, Food Safety, Secondary metabolite,

Abstract :

Aflatoxins are fungal secondary metabolites, mutagenic and carcinogenic substances that are often produced by Aspergillus section Flavi on food and feed under certain environmental conditions. Dried fruit has always been exposed to contamination by toxigenic fungi and aflatoxin, and the health of the produced product is a challenge for the consumer and trading. Susceptibility of five almond cultivar kernels including Sefid (Kaghazi), Mamaei, Aliakbar Rabi from Isfahan province and Shahrood 12 and Shahrood 13 cultivars from Semnan province to Aspergillus flavus and aflatoxin production were evaluated. A toxigenic A. flavus strain was used for the artificial inoculation of almond kernel. Ten grams of almond kernels samples were surface disinfected in three replications in a completely randomized design. The samples were inoculated with one milliliter of A. flavus spore suspension (2×106 ml L-1). The growth rate and colonization of the fungus on the kernels as well as the fungal sporulation rate on kernels were evaluated after 5, 7, and 12 days of incubation at 98±2% humidity, 28ºC, and dark conditions. Aflatoxin B1were measured in inoculated samples using thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Assays were performed in three replications in a completely randomized experimental design (P≤0.05). The results showed that Mamaei and Kaghazi cultivars with 20.36 and 95.7% kernel colonization, 2.65×107 and 3.3 ×108 spore/ml, 9495.7 and 14057 µg/Kg have the lowest and highest sensitivity to A. flavus colonization, sporulation, and aflatoxin B1 respectively. The results of this study can be used in the selection of aflatoxin resistant cultivars.

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