Aflatoxin production on high moisture corn and sorghum with a limited incubation

Abstract

Samples of ground, cracked, or whole kernels of sorghum or corn were inoculated with Aspergillus flavus no. 15546. The samples were incubated at 25 or 30 C and 90% relative humidity for 48 or 72 h. In all treatments, the 72-h samples contained more aflatoxins B1 and B2 than the 48-h samples. Cracked sorghum at 30 C for 72 h and whole sorghum at 25 C for 72 h contained more aflatoxins than any other treatment. Even in these short incubation periods, enough aflatoxin could be produced to be harmful to livestock.