VIEW ARTICLE

Preharvest Inoculation and Infection of Dent Corn Ears with Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. G. W. Rambo, Postdoctorate Fellow, Department of Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907; J. Tuite(2), and P. Crane(3). (2)Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907; (3)Professor, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907. Phytopathology 64:797-800. Accepted for publication 27 December 1973. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-64-797.

Ears of yellow and white dent corn were inoculated with Aspergillus flavus, A. flavus var columnaris, and A. parasiticus. Twelve of the 14 isolates were parasitic and the three white and two yellow dent varieties inoculated were susceptible. Ears inoculated at later stages of maturity, late milk and early dough, were more susceptible to infection than ears inoculated at the silking or early milk stages. Aspergillus growth was usually observed on injured kernels. The bright greenish-yellow fluorescence (BGYF) was observed in 52% of the kernels which yielded aflatoxin. A false-positive “BGY” was occasionally observed in sound corn, and in cobs of all hybrids tested. This “BGYF” compound was insoluble in water and was not associated with kernels which yielded aflatoxin.