Soil population density, kernel infection and Aflatoxin contamination in Groundnut - A survey of North Gujarat

About 100 groundnut pod and soil samples were collected from different locations of North Gujarat and were tested for soil population of A. flavus, percent seed infection and aflatoxin contamination. The average soil population of A. flavus of Kachchh district (4.93 x 103 cfu g-1soil) was slightly higher than Banaskantha district (4.90 x 103 cfu g-1 soil). Minimum soil population of A. flavus was recorded with the variety J-11 grown as rainfed. Moreover, it was maximum when groundnut crops were grown after groundnut whereas; minimum after pulse crops; and a little difference between the irrigated and the rainfed samples were recorded. The average of seed infection was higher in the Banaskantha district than the Kachchh. Maximum seed infection was recorded in the variety GG-20 grown as irrigated; whereas minimum in the variety J-11 cultivated in rainfed. Maximum seed infection was recorded when groundnut was grown as previous crop, while minimum when pulses were grown as previous crops. Irrigated crops showed higher seed infection as compared to the rainfed crops. None of the samples were found free from aflatoxin, but 51.00 per cent of the samples were within the safe limits. The average of Kachchh district was 14.22 ppb whereas in Banaskantha, it was 15.33 ppb .According to variety, the maximum aflatoxin (21.34 ppb) was recorded in the variety GG-2 cultivated in irrigated condition, while the variety J-11 cultivated in rainfed condition recorded minimum aflatoxin (4.55 ppb). Groundnut cultivated after groundnut recorded maximum, whereas it was minimum when pulses where grown as previous crops.