Estimating aflatoxin in farmers' stock peanut lots by measuring aflatoxin in various peanut-grade components

Five, 2 kg test samples were taken from each of 120 farmers' stock peanut lots contaminated with aflatoxin. Kernels from each 2 kg sample were divided into the following grade components: sound mature kernels plus sound splits (SMKSS), other kernels (OK), loose shelled kernels (LSK), and damaged kernels (DAM). Kernel mass, aflatoxin mass, and aflatoxin concentration were measured for each of the 2400 component samples. For 120 lots tested, average aflatoxin concentrations in SMKSS, OK, LSK, and DAM components were 235, 2543, 11,775, and 69,775 ng/g, respectively. Aflatoxins in SMKSS, OK, LSK, and DAM components represented 6.9, 7.9, 33.3, and 51.9% of the total aflatoxin mass, respectively. Cumulatively, 3 aflatoxin risk components--OK, LSK, and DAM--accounted for 93.1% of total aflatoxin, but only 18.4% percent of test sample mass. Correlation analysis suggests that the most accurate predictor of aflatoxin concentration in the lot is the cumulative aflatoxin mass in the high 3 risk components OK + LSK + DAM (correlation coefficient, r = 0.996). If the aflatoxin in the combined OK + LSK + DAM components is expressed in concentration units, r decreases to 0.939. Linear regression equations relating aflatoxin in OK + LSK + DAM to aflatoxin concentration in the lot were developed. The cumulative aflatoxin in the OK + LSK + DAM components was not an accurate predictor (r = 0.539) of aflatoxin in the SMKSS component. Statistical analyses of 3 other data sets published previously yielded similar results.