Effect of Aspergillus parasiticus soil inoculum on invasion of peanut seeds

Environmental control plots adjusted to late season drought and elevated soil temperatures were inoculated at peanut planting with low and high levels of conidia, sclerotia, and mycelium from a brown conidial mutant of Aspergillus parasiticus. Percentage infection of peanut seeds from undamaged pods was greatest for the subplot containing the high sclerotial inoculum (15/cm2 soil surface). Sclerotia did not germinate sporogenically and may have invaded seeds through mycelium. In contrast, the mycelial inoculum (colonized peanut seed particles) released large numbers of conidia into soil. Soil conidial populations of brown A. parasiticus from treatments with conidia and mycelium were positively correlated with the incidence of seed infection in undamaged pods. The ratio of A. flavus to wild-type A. parasiticus in soil shifted from 7:3 to 1:1 in the uninoculated subplot after instigation of drought, whereas in all subplots treated with brown A. parasiticus, the ratio of the two species became approximately 8:2. Despite high levels of brown A. parasiticus populations in soil, native A. flavus often dominated peanut seeds, suggesting that it is a more aggressive species. Sclerotia of wild-type A. parasiticus formed infrequently on preharvest peanut seeds from insect-damaged pods.