DETECTION OF TOXIGENIC FUNGI IN THE PRODUCTIVE CHAIN OF CORN (Zea maiz L.)

Abstract

The presence of toxigenic fungi has been determined in the main products of the productive chain of corn such as: cultivation soil, choclo, corn, peeled corn and corn flour, which come from three provinces of Junín department (Huancayo, Concepción and Chupaca). The objective of this work is to quantify, isolate and identify the toxigenic fungi in this chain, in order to control and to avoid its proliferation. The identified fungi were Penicillium oxalicum, P. viridicatum and P. digitatum especially in almost all studied products, Fusarium roseum and F. moniliforme in the cultivation soil; Aspergillus niger, Rizophus stolonifer and yeasts, specially in the corn flour. From them, the toxigenic fungi are: F. moniliforme F. roseum, P. viridicatum y A. niger, and the fungi that cause rottenness are P. digitatum y P. oxalicum. The incidence of fungi varied from 10 to 4,5 x 105 cfu/g being the average 4,2 x 104 cfu/g in the whole chain. It has also been determined that the peeled corn and the corn flour present high number of fungi specially coming from Huancayo, for that, it is recommended a better handling during postharvest and commercialization, especially because these products are expended in bulk that implies a higher risk of contamination.