Occurrence of Aspergillus section Flavi and aflatoxin B-1 in corn genotypes and corn meal in Argentina

A study has been carried out in Argentina on samples of corn genotypes from a breeding station as well as in commercially available corn meal. All sam ples were analyzed for fungal infection and aflatoxin B-1. Mycological anal ysis of corn genotypes showed the presence of three principal genera of fil amentous fungi Fusarium (100%), Penicillium (67%) and Aspergillus (60%). In the genus Fusarium three species were identified, F. moniliforme (42%), F. nygamai (56%) and F. proliferatum (1.8%). Eight species of Penicillium wer e identified, the predominant species isolated were P. minioluteum, P. funi culosum and P. variabile. In the genus ranked third in isolation frequency, two species were identified, A. flavus and A. parasiticus, the percentage of infection was 78% and 21%, respectively. Only one corn genotype was cont aminated with aflatoxin B-1 at a level of 5 ppb. The corn meal samples show ed great differences in fungal contamination, the values ranging from 1 x 1 0(1) to 7 x 10(5) cfu g(-1). Fusarium (68%), Aspergillus (35%) and Penicill ium (21%) were the most frequent genera isolated. Among the genus, Aspergil lus, A. parasiticus (38%) was the most frequent species isolated. All the s amples of corn meal were negative to aflatoxin B-1. These results indicate a low degree of human exposure to aflatoxins in Argentina through the inges tion of maize or corn meal.