Fungal ecology and postharvest factors driving aflatoxin contamination in Ghanaian groundnuts and mitigation strategies

文献类型： 外文期刊

第一作者： Ninkuu, Vincent

作者： Ninkuu, Vincent;Sabuli, Noah;Opoku, Nelson;Zeng, Hongmei;Kanyam, Daniel Akwasi;Motey, Grace Adzo;Magnan, Nicholas;Magnan, Nicholas

作者机构：

关键词： Aflatoxin; Aspergillus spp; Postharvest; Groundnuts; Ghana

期刊名称：FOOD CONTROL （ 影响因子：6.3； 五年影响因子：6.1 ）

ISSN： 0956-7135

年卷期： 2026 年 179 卷

页码：

收录情况： SCI

摘要： Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) is a major staple and export crop in Ghana. However, aflatoxin contamination poses serious food safety and health risks, including hepatocellular carcinoma, immune suppression, and childhood stunting. Elevated aflatoxin levels have disrupted groundnut exports, impacting Ghana's economy. This study investigated the key drivers of aflatoxin and aflatoxigenic species contaminating groundnuts and explored postharvest strategies for reducing it. Probit analysis of socio-demographic and aflatoxin data from 1000 households revealed that the intolerable aflatoxin levels were significantly associated with delayed harvesting, insufficient drying duration, and lack of sorting. Molecular identification implicated Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus as the primary aflatoxigenic strains, detected in over 90 % of the samples. Notably, the isolation rates of these strains exhibited strong positive correlations with aflatoxin concentrations, with coefficients of determination (r2) of 0.81 (p < 0.0001) for A. flavus and 0.71 (p < 0.0001) for A. parasiticus. Further assessment of drying and storage techniques revealed that timely picking of nuts from vines after uprooting, sorting, and drying on tarpaulin reduced aflatoxin contamination by 86 %, compared to the farmers' current practices and rack drying techniques. This study enhances aflatoxin mitigation techniques among farmers using cost-effective and straightforward strategies.

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