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- Title
Insect-facilitated propagation of mycotoxic fungi in grain storages: association of Sitotroga cerealella Olivier with Aspergillus flavus link.
- Authors
Khan, A. A.; Umar, U.; Ejaz, S.; Riaz, H.; Batool, M.; Chen, T.; Ahmad, F.; Saeed, Q.
- Abstract
During storage, a significant quantity of wheat is lost due to insect and fungal pest complexes, where insects possibly disseminate the mycotoxic fungal pests. We have studied the role Sitotroga cerealella, Tribolium castaneum and Rhyzopertha dominica in propagating mycotoxic fungi in stored wheat grains. We found that 85% of wheat collected from steel and brick-walled grain silos were contaminated with Alternaria alternata, Alternaria infectoria, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus tenuissima, and these species were also isolated from the bodies of S. cerealella adults. Our results clearly demonstrated that the prevalence of A. flavus was higher when S. cerealella was co-infesting the grain along with fungal species. We have noticed that 75% of adult moths (both male and female) were attracted toward the fungal contaminated seeds as compared to sterilized seeds even after two weeks of incubation. This proportion increased to more than 87% in just four weeks after fungal infestation. This study suggests further investigation to understand the chemical basis of identified mutualistic association between A. flavus and S. cerealella, for efficient management of grain losses due to insect–fungal pest complexes.
- Subjects
TOXIGENIC fungi; ASPERGILLUS flavus; GRAIN storage; RHYZOPERTHA dominica; ALTERNARIA alternata; WHEAT; GRAIN
- Publication
International Journal of Environmental Science & Technology (IJEST), 2023, Vol 20, Issue 1, p231
- ISSN
1735-1472
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s13762-022-04084-0