Development of innovative technologies for the management of aflatoxin contamination

Abstract

Aspergillus flavus, a phytopathogenic species that naturally colonize economically relevant crops such as maize, peanuts and spices, is considered the main producer of highly toxic and cancerogenic compounds known as aflatoxin B1 and B2. Aflatoxins, that possess teratogenic and mutagenic properties, can be frequently found at high concentration in food and feed commodities, since such molecules often are transferred along the food chain reaching the consumers through contaminated matrices. For this reason, the concentration of aflatoxin B1 in food and feed is strictly regulated by national and international Food Security Authorities. The control is thus a complex problem that requires the development of wide range of contamination management strategies, from the field (pre- and post- harvest) to the fork. This Ph.D. project proposes a green approach, focused on the development of integrated strategies for reduce aflatoxin pre-harvest contamination, coping innovative technologies of plant defense, with lower environmental impact and application costs to increase the sustainability of corn cultivation in Emilia Romagna Region. Part of this work is addressed to characterize the antifungal and antimycotoxigenic properties of newly synthesized bioinorganic compounds, safe for the environment and the human health, with the final goal to obtain a Q-SAR database. The second part is focused on the definition of an aflatoxin containment strategy based on the use of intraspecific bio-competitor, investigated through a two-year in field experimentation. Additional topics are also included, aimed at a deeper and accurate molecular characterization of A. flavus isolates in terms of genetics, biodiversity and new developing tools of detection.