ICRISAT Archival Report 2006 - The seedlings of success in the ...

hazardous to human and animal health. Of various grain molds, aflatoxins produced by Aspergillus species and
fumonisins produced by Fusarium species are most frequent contaminants in sorghum and pearl millet. To enhance
the quality of the grain by mitigating mycotoxin contamination through improved production technologies,
participatory on-farm trials were conducted in Maharastra and Andhra Pradesh states, India, and grain samples from
these trials were collected for mycotoxin analysis to assess the effect of improved varieties and cultural practices on
mycotoxin contamination. A total of 440 sorghum grain samples were collected from 88 farmer fields from 5
villages (Udityal, Kakarjala, Veerannapalli, Rangampalli and Bandapalli) and they were analyzed for aflatoxins and
fumonisin B1 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Aflatoxin contamination in sorghum samples collected from Udityal ranged from 0 to 561 µg kg -1 . Samples from
12% of the fields contained high levels of aflatoxins; lowest toxin levels (0−4.2 g kg -1 ) were found in samples
from Rangampalli. In remaining villages, aflatoxin ranged between 0 and 48 g kg -1 . Majority of the samples tested
had toxins under permissible levels of 30 g kg -1 ; 28.4% samples had no detectable levels of aflatoxins; in 50.7% it
was between 1 and 5 g kg -1 ; in 14.1% samples it ranged between 5 and 30 g kg -1 ; and 3.2% and 3.6% of the
samples had 30.1−100 and 100.1−561 g kg -1 aflatoxins. Fumonisin contamination in sorghum samples ranged
from 0 to 1356 µg kg -1 with samples from 8% of the fields containing >100 µg kg -1 . Eighty-one percent of the
individual sorghum samples were free from fumonisin contamination and 7% contained >100 µg kg -1 fumonisin.
Pearl millet samples (505) collected from 101 farmers’ fields from six villages (Palavai, Peddapalli, Pavanampalli,
Parmal, Kuruvupalli, Kondapalli) were analyzed for aflatoxins and fumonisin. Aflatoxin contamination ranged from
0 to 1047 µg kg -1 . Samples from 16% of the fields contained >30 µg kg -1 . In Pavanampalli, Parmal, Kondapalli
villages, 29−38% fields contained >30 µg kg -1 aflatoxin. To our knowledge, this is the first record of high levels of
aflatoxin contamination in pearl millet. Fumonisin contamination in pearl millet ranged from 0 to 186 µg kg -1 and
only 1% of the samples collected from various farmers fields contained >100 µg kg -1 .
A field day was organized at Palavai village (Mahbubnagar district, Andhra Pradesh, India) to disseminate the
technologies for improved productivity of crops and mitigate grain mold contamination in sorghum and millet. More
than 200 participants (farmers and NGOs) participated in the field day.
Farid Waliyar
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