ASSOCIATION OF BRIGHT GREENISH YELLOW FLUORESCENCE AND AFLATOXIN IN GRAIN OF MAIZE INBREDS

Breeding for resistance to aflatoxin, which is produced by Aspergillus flavus Link:Fr in maize (Zen mays L.), is the most practical method t o reduce or eliminate aflatoxin in this very important crop. The objec tive of this study was to determine the feasibility of using data on t he number of fluorescing particles (fluorescence detected under a ''bl ack light'') in ground grain to select genotypes with low levels of af latoxin. Based on data collected in 1992, 20 inbreds were selected for their low number of fluorescing grain particles and low aflatoxin, an d 10 were selected for high values. Thus, 30 inbreds were grown and ev aluated in 1993 and 1994. The group of 20 inbreds included one with kn own resistance to kernel infection by A. flavus and anatoxin, and the group of 10 inbreds included a known susceptible inbred. Overall, the group selected for low Values had a lower number of fluorescing partic les and lower aflatoxin levels than the group selected for high values . Over two years, the resistant inbred averaged 4.7 fluorescing partic les per sample and 26 ng g(-1) aflatoxin compared to 60.1 and 2513 for the susceptible inbred. My data suggest that number of fluoreseing pa rticles can be used to select genotypes with low aflatoxin contaminati on and discard the large number of susceptible genotypes. Thus, only g enotypes with low number of fluorescing particles would need to be ass ayed for aflatoxin, thereby markedly reducing costs in the breeding pr ogram to develop aflatoxin resistant genotypes.