Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change
Aflatoxin contamination of crops is frequent in warm regions across the globe, including large areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Crop contamination with these dangerous toxins transcends health, food security, and trade sectors. It cuts across the value chain, affecting farmers, traders, markets, and fin...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Wageningen University & Research
2016
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/78099 |
| _version_ | 1855520451331096576 |
|---|---|
| author | Bandyopadhyay, Ranajit Ortega Beltran, A. Akande, A. Mutegi, C. Atehnkeng, J. Kaptoge, L. Senghor, A.L. Adhikari, B.N. Cotty, P.J. |
| author_browse | Adhikari, B.N. Akande, A. Atehnkeng, J. Bandyopadhyay, Ranajit Cotty, P.J. Kaptoge, L. Mutegi, C. Ortega Beltran, A. Senghor, A.L. |
| author_facet | Bandyopadhyay, Ranajit Ortega Beltran, A. Akande, A. Mutegi, C. Atehnkeng, J. Kaptoge, L. Senghor, A.L. Adhikari, B.N. Cotty, P.J. |
| author_sort | Bandyopadhyay, Ranajit |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Aflatoxin contamination of crops is frequent in warm regions across the globe, including large areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Crop contamination with these dangerous toxins transcends health, food security, and trade sectors. It cuts across the value chain, affecting farmers, traders, markets, and finally consumers. Diverse fungi within Aspergillus section Flavi contaminate crops with aflatoxins. Within these Aspergillus communities, several genotypes are not capable of producing aflatoxins (atoxigenic). Carefully selected atoxigenic genotypes in biological control (biocontrol) formulations efficiently reduce aflatoxin contamination of crops when applied prior to flowering in the field. This safe and environmentally friendly, effective technology was pioneered in the US, where well over a million acres of susceptible crops are treated annually. The technology has been improved for use in sub-Saharan Africa, where efforts are under way to develop biocontrol products, under the trade name Aflasafe, for 11 African nations. The number of participating nations is expected to increase. In parallel, state of the art technology has been developed for large-scale inexpensive manufacture of Aflasafe products under the conditions present in many African nations. Results to date indicate that all Aflasafe products, registered and under experimental use, reduce aflatoxin concentrations in treated crops by >80% in comparison to untreated crops in both field and storage conditions.
Benefits of aflatoxin biocontrol technologies are discussed along with potential challenges, including climate change, likely to be faced during the scaling-up of Aflasafe products. Lastly, we respond to several apprehensions expressed in the literature about the use of atoxigenic genotypes in biocontrol formulations. These responses relate to the following apprehensions: sorghum as carrier, distribution costs, aflatoxin-conscious markets, efficacy during drought, post-harvest benefits, risk of allergies and/or aspergillosis, influence of Aflasafe on other mycotoxins and on soil microenvironment, dynamics of Aspergillus genotypes, and recombination between atoxigenic and toxigenic genotypes in natural conditions. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace78099 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Wageningen University & Research |
| publisherStr | Wageningen University & Research |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace780992025-11-11T10:10:21Z Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change Bandyopadhyay, Ranajit Ortega Beltran, A. Akande, A. Mutegi, C. Atehnkeng, J. Kaptoge, L. Senghor, A.L. Adhikari, B.N. Cotty, P.J. maize groundnuts climate change food security aspergillus flavus aflasafe commercialisation Aflatoxin contamination of crops is frequent in warm regions across the globe, including large areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Crop contamination with these dangerous toxins transcends health, food security, and trade sectors. It cuts across the value chain, affecting farmers, traders, markets, and finally consumers. Diverse fungi within Aspergillus section Flavi contaminate crops with aflatoxins. Within these Aspergillus communities, several genotypes are not capable of producing aflatoxins (atoxigenic). Carefully selected atoxigenic genotypes in biological control (biocontrol) formulations efficiently reduce aflatoxin contamination of crops when applied prior to flowering in the field. This safe and environmentally friendly, effective technology was pioneered in the US, where well over a million acres of susceptible crops are treated annually. The technology has been improved for use in sub-Saharan Africa, where efforts are under way to develop biocontrol products, under the trade name Aflasafe, for 11 African nations. The number of participating nations is expected to increase. In parallel, state of the art technology has been developed for large-scale inexpensive manufacture of Aflasafe products under the conditions present in many African nations. Results to date indicate that all Aflasafe products, registered and under experimental use, reduce aflatoxin concentrations in treated crops by >80% in comparison to untreated crops in both field and storage conditions. Benefits of aflatoxin biocontrol technologies are discussed along with potential challenges, including climate change, likely to be faced during the scaling-up of Aflasafe products. Lastly, we respond to several apprehensions expressed in the literature about the use of atoxigenic genotypes in biocontrol formulations. These responses relate to the following apprehensions: sorghum as carrier, distribution costs, aflatoxin-conscious markets, efficacy during drought, post-harvest benefits, risk of allergies and/or aspergillosis, influence of Aflasafe on other mycotoxins and on soil microenvironment, dynamics of Aspergillus genotypes, and recombination between atoxigenic and toxigenic genotypes in natural conditions. 2016-11-02 2016-12-02T13:17:04Z 2016-12-02T13:17:04Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/78099 en Open Access application/pdf Wageningen University & Research Bandyopadhyay, R., Ortega-Beltran, A., Akande, A., Mutegi, C., Atehnkeng, J., Kaptoge, L., ... & Cotty, P.J. (2016). Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change. World Mycotoxin Journal, 1-20. |
| spellingShingle | maize groundnuts climate change food security aspergillus flavus aflasafe commercialisation Bandyopadhyay, Ranajit Ortega Beltran, A. Akande, A. Mutegi, C. Atehnkeng, J. Kaptoge, L. Senghor, A.L. Adhikari, B.N. Cotty, P.J. Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change |
| title | Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change |
| title_full | Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change |
| title_fullStr | Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change |
| title_full_unstemmed | Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change |
| title_short | Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change |
| title_sort | biological control of aflatoxins in africa current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change |
| topic | maize groundnuts climate change food security aspergillus flavus aflasafe commercialisation |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/78099 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bandyopadhyayranajit biologicalcontrolofaflatoxinsinafricacurrentstatusandpotentialchallengesinthefaceofclimatechange AT ortegabeltrana biologicalcontrolofaflatoxinsinafricacurrentstatusandpotentialchallengesinthefaceofclimatechange AT akandea biologicalcontrolofaflatoxinsinafricacurrentstatusandpotentialchallengesinthefaceofclimatechange AT mutegic biologicalcontrolofaflatoxinsinafricacurrentstatusandpotentialchallengesinthefaceofclimatechange AT atehnkengj biologicalcontrolofaflatoxinsinafricacurrentstatusandpotentialchallengesinthefaceofclimatechange AT kaptogel biologicalcontrolofaflatoxinsinafricacurrentstatusandpotentialchallengesinthefaceofclimatechange AT senghoral biologicalcontrolofaflatoxinsinafricacurrentstatusandpotentialchallengesinthefaceofclimatechange AT adhikaribn biologicalcontrolofaflatoxinsinafricacurrentstatusandpotentialchallengesinthefaceofclimatechange AT cottypj biologicalcontrolofaflatoxinsinafricacurrentstatusandpotentialchallengesinthefaceofclimatechange |