COMPARISON OF THE PROFILES OF SEED-BORNE FUNGI AND THE OCCURRENCE OF AFLATOXINS IN MOLD-DAMAGED BEANS AND SOYBEANS

The average percentage of fungal infection in twenty bean and soybean lots was determined by visual inspection (24.5 and 16.8%, respectively ), and by laboratory isolation (58.5 and 33.7%), respectively. The myc oflora were more diverse in bean than soybean. Bean was more susceptib le to fungal infection than soybean under similar environmental and cu ltural conditions. The most frequently isolated fungal genera for bean and soybean were Aspergillus, Penicillium, Rhizopus, Eurotium and Cur vularia. Aflatoxins were not detected in the non-infected beans and so ybeans, but aflatoxins (B-1, B-2, G(1) and G(2)) were detected in the infected beans but not in the infected soybeans. The absence of aflato xin in the fungal infected soybeans is discussed.