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Pre-harvest silk treatment with Trichoderma harzianum reduces aflatoxin contamination in sweetcorn

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Abstract

One of the most promising management tools to reduce mycotoxins in food and feed is the pre-harvest biological control of mycotoxigenic fungi using microbes. The goal of this investigation was to evaluate the potential of a stain of Trichoderma harzianum, T77, for control of Aspergillus flavus on sweetcorn. Under greenhouse and field conditions, T. harzianum was applied as a pre-harvest spray treatment to silks of sweetcorn plants at 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 days post-midsilk. Toxigenic A. flavus was spray inoculated as a conidial suspension (103 spores ml−1) onto silks at 2, 4, 7, 9, 11 and 13 days post-midsilk. Percentage kernel infection, disease ratings, ELISA and HPLC analyses were used to quantify A. flavus infection and aflatoxin contamination. There was a significant reduction in toxigenic A. flavus infection and aflatoxin contamination after silk spray treatments with T77 at 10 and 12 days post-midsilk. In vitro dual culture bioassays and ultrastructural studies using environmental scanning electron microscopy revealed antibiosis and mycoparasitism are the probable modes of action. It thus can be seen that pre-harvest spray treatment of sweetcorn at the silk growth stage can reduce the level of A. flavus contamination of grain. An integrated approach consisting pre-harvest biological control using selected strains of T. harzianum in conjunction with other post-harvest management strategies could reduce A. flavus infection and aflatoxin contamination in grain.

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Acknowledgments

BJS was sponsored by the National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa, for the duration of her studies for which she is grateful. Plant Health Products for providing the formulated Eco77 product.

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  1. Discipline of Plant Pathology, School of Agriculture, Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, 3201, South Africa

    Benice J. Sivparsad & Mark D. Laing

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  1. Benice J. Sivparsad
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  2. Mark D. Laing
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Correspondence to Benice J. Sivparsad.

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Sivparsad, B.J., Laing, M.D. Pre-harvest silk treatment with Trichoderma harzianum reduces aflatoxin contamination in sweetcorn. J Plant Dis Prot 123, 285–293 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41348-016-0037-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41348-016-0037-9

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