Composition of mycoflora and aflatoxins in pea seeds from the Sudan

Through incubation of 13 pea (Pisum sativum L. "Titan") samples from the lo cal markets of Khartoum on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and moistened filter papers (Moist Chambers) at 28 +/- 2 degrees C, 22 genera, 56 species and 9 varieties were encountered as seed-borne fungi of pea crops. Of these fungi , 45 species and 9 varieties are new records to this crop, where two genera , three species and two varieties are new reports to the mycoflora of the S udan. The genus Aspergillus (11 species and 5 varieties) was the most commo n followed by Rhizopus (2 species), Alternaria (7 species), Fusarium (7 spe cies), Emericella (2 species and 3 varieties), Drechslera (2 species), Clad osporium (4 species) and Penicillium (5 species), where the remaining 14 ge nera (1-3 species) exhibited very low levels of infection. As possible path ogens of pea plants, A. alternata (2.07%), A. flavus var. columnaris (3.75% ), A. flavus var. flavus (3.70%), C. cladosporioides(1.88%), D. australiens is (2.46%), F. oxysporum (1.58%), F. solani(1.88%) and Pythium ultimum (1.5 0%) were recovered from pea seeds. Thin layer chromatographic analysis of c hloroform extracts of 13 seed samples revealed that three samples were natu rally contaminated with aflatoxins B-1, B-2, G(1) and G(2) (18-30 mu g/kg).