<mods:mods version="3.3" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-3.xsd" xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"><mods:titleInfo><mods:title>The Role of Drought Stress on Aflatoxin Contamination&#13;
in Groundnuts (Arachis hypogea L.) and Aspergillus&#13;
flavus Population in the Soil</mods:title></mods:titleInfo><mods:name type="personal"><mods:namePart type="given">C B</mods:namePart><mods:namePart type="family">Sibakwe</mods:namePart><mods:role><mods:roleTerm type="text">author</mods:roleTerm></mods:role></mods:name><mods:name type="personal"><mods:namePart type="given">T</mods:namePart><mods:namePart type="family">Kasambara-Donga</mods:namePart><mods:role><mods:roleTerm type="text">author</mods:roleTerm></mods:role></mods:name><mods:name type="personal"><mods:namePart type="given">S M C</mods:namePart><mods:namePart type="family">Njoroge</mods:namePart><mods:role><mods:roleTerm type="text">author</mods:roleTerm></mods:role></mods:name><mods:name type="personal"><mods:namePart type="given">W A B</mods:namePart><mods:namePart type="family">Msuku</mods:namePart><mods:role><mods:roleTerm type="text">author</mods:roleTerm></mods:role></mods:name><mods:name type="personal"><mods:namePart type="given">W G</mods:namePart><mods:namePart type="family">Mhang</mods:namePart><mods:role><mods:roleTerm type="text">author</mods:roleTerm></mods:role></mods:name><mods:name type="personal"><mods:namePart type="given">R L</mods:namePart><mods:namePart type="family">Brandenburg</mods:namePart><mods:role><mods:roleTerm type="text">author</mods:roleTerm></mods:role></mods:name><mods:name type="personal"><mods:namePart type="given">D L</mods:namePart><mods:namePart type="family">Jordan</mods:namePart><mods:role><mods:roleTerm type="text">author</mods:roleTerm></mods:role></mods:name><mods:abstract>Aflatoxins are naturally occurring toxic chemical substances that are produced by fungal species called Aspergillus flavus.&#13;
The toxic substances are secondary metabolites, which contaminate groundnut while growing in the field and also post-harvest.&#13;
Drought stress is one of the factors that contribute to increased aflatoxin levels in groundnut during field production. This study was&#13;
conducted in a screen house at ICRISAT-Chitedze Agricultural Research Station, Malawi to investigate the effects of drought on&#13;
aflatoxin contamination and A.flavus population in the soil. Four drought stress levels; prolonged (4 weeks), min (3 weeks), mild (2&#13;
weeks) and no drought were imposed on five groundnut varieties at pod filling stage. Soil samples were collected from each plot four&#13;
times; at planting, beginning of drought, end of drought and at harvest. Aflatoxin levels in groundnut grain samples were estimated by&#13;
use of neogenstrips read with mobile assay tablet reader. Population densities of A.flavus in soil samples collected from the plots were&#13;
estimated using serial dilutions plated on the selective media, modified dichloran Rose Bengal (MDRB) and quantify A.flavus within 3&#13;
days after incubation at 37°C.The results showed that there were significant differences in aflatoxin contamination between drought&#13;
stress levels (p = 0.011). High aflatoxin contamination was observed under prolonged drought (22.0 ppb) compared to and no drought&#13;
treatment (1.5 ppb). None of the varieties used in the study showed either resistance or susceptibility to aflatoxin contamination under&#13;
drought or adequate soil moisture. The results also showed that there were significant differences in A.flavus population at drought&#13;
period and harvesting time and the mean population of A.flavus in prolonged drought at end of stress and harvesting were 8511 and&#13;
6044 cfu/g of soil respectively. It was concluded that drought contribute to aflatoxin contamination in groundnut, and also increased the&#13;
A.flavus population in soil and also at harvesting.</mods:abstract><mods:classification authority="lcc">Abiotic Stress</mods:classification><mods:classification authority="lcc">Soil</mods:classification><mods:classification authority="lcc">Groundnut</mods:classification><mods:classification authority="lcc">Drought</mods:classification><mods:classification authority="lcc">Aflatoxins</mods:classification><mods:originInfo><mods:dateIssued encoding="iso8061">2017-12</mods:dateIssued></mods:originInfo><mods:originInfo><mods:publisher>Academic Star Publishing Company</mods:publisher></mods:originInfo><mods:genre>Article</mods:genre></mods:mods>