Mycotoxin Menace in Stored Agricultural Commodities and Their Management by Plant Volatiles: An Overview

Mycotoxins are toxic metabolites of fungi when they grow on food commodities. These are potent toxins having severe manifestations in humans and animals, being carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic. Mycotoxin contamination is most widespread in agricultural commodities. These mycotoxins are secondary metabolite products and are produced by several fungi occurring on commercially importance agricultural produce during pre- and post-harvest and incur significant side effects on animalia. Aflatoxins, fumonisins, ochratoxins, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, patulin are major mycotoxins, produced by Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium species. Among all, aflatoxins, fumonisins, and ochratoxins are found to have very important role in creating several side effects in human health worldwide. For control of these mycotoxins in agricultural commodities, several physical, chemical and biological management techniques and measures have been developed. However, physical and chemical methods have their own limitations. Plant volatiles isolated from higher plants certainly provide a potential mycotoxin management strategy in stored food commodities. This review describes the mycotoxins contamination in some commercially importance agricultural crops such as rice, wheat, maize, peanut, sorghum, pearl-millets, barley, oat, pulses, oil seeds, fruits and their management through plant volatiles; which may be helpful in developing proper management strategies. Information from meticulous studies of mycotoxins in food commodities throughout the world will help in providing safer food for consumption and in prioritizing future research programs.