Description

Abstract: A committee to coordinate action on the aflatoxin problem in Nigeria was constituted in 1961 with representatives from the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), and the Northern Nigeria Marketing Board. NSPRI routinely monitored groundnuts in storage pyramids to determine aflatoxin levels before export. IAR investigated the time of invasion of groundnut kernels by Aspergillus flavus, and conditions of aflatoxins production. An interplay of temperature, relative humidity, drought, and erratic rainfall and maturity of the crop at lifting was found to affect seed invasion by A. flavus and aflatoxin contamination of groundnut. In the wetter areas of the southern Guinea savanna aflatoxin contamination of groundnuts was mainly a postharvest problem; whereas in the major groundnut-growing areas in the drier northern Guinea and Sudan savanna the problem was more important preharvest. Insect infestations and wetting of stored groundnuts increased aflatoxin contamination. Research information from IAR and NSPRI provides the basis for recommendations on the handling of groundnut to minimize or prevent aflatoxin contamination. Vegetable oil and feed mill companies routinely submit their groundnut and other feed materials for aflatoxin analysis. None of the commercially grown groundnut cultivars in Nigeria was resistant to A. flavus invasion and aflatoxin contamination of seeds. Breeding materials from both domestic and exotic sources are screened for resistance and other improved management practices are used or researched