Review of good agricultural practices for smallholder maize farmers to minimise aflatoxin contamination

Xu, Feibo; Baker, R. C.; Whitaker, T. B.; Luo, Hao; Zhao, Yang; Stevenson, Albert F.; Boesch, Christine; Zhang, G.

doi:10.3920/wmj2021.2685

Cited by 21 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 119 publications

(171 reference statements)

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“…This can lead to plants that are easily infected by moulds, with subsequent mycotoxin production if not substituted with irrigation. Cultivation of maize, for example, in many parts of Africa, is common during the rainy season, as necessity in rain-fed systems can lead to an increase in accumulation of aflatoxins [ 54 ]. Additionally, high temperatures and drought stress have directly affected maize and the occurrence of Aspergillus flavus, favouring fungal growth, conidiation, and spore dispersal and impairing the growth and development of maize [ 17 , 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

Section: Factors Responsible For High Levels Of Mycotoxin Contaminati...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Six Main Contributing Factors to High Levels of Mycotoxin Contamination in African Foods

Ngum

Babalola

Ekwomadu

et al. 2022

Toxins

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Africa is one of the regions with high mycotoxin contamination of foods and continues to record high incidences of liver cancers globally. The agricultural sector of most African countries depends largely on climate variables for crop production. Production of mycotoxins is climate-sensitive. Most stakeholders in the food production chain in Africa are not aware of the health and economic effects of consuming contaminated foods. The aim of this review is to evaluate the main factors and their degree of contribution to the high levels of mycotoxins in African foods. Thus, knowledge of the contributions of different factors responsible for high levels of these toxins will be a good starting point for the effective mitigation of mycotoxins in Africa. Google Scholar was used to conduct a systemic search. Six factors were found to be linked to high levels of mycotoxins in African foods, in varying degrees. Climate change remains the main driving factor in the production of mycotoxins. The other factors are partly man-made and can be manipulated to become a more profitable or less climate-sensitive response. Awareness of the existence of these mycotoxins and their economic as well as health consequences remains paramount. The degree of management of these factors regarding mycotoxins varies from one region of the world to another.

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Section: Factors Responsible For High Levels Of Mycotoxin Contaminati...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Six Main Contributing Factors to High Levels of Mycotoxin Contamination in African Foods

Ngum

Babalola

Ekwomadu

et al. 2022

Toxins

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the current study, it was found that the postharvest practices used by groundnut farmers are variable and depend on the survey area. These practices help to minimize or increase the risk of spoilage and mycotoxin contamination of groundnuts, particularly aflatoxins, as has been pointed out in numerous studies [ 14 , 17 , 46 – 49 ]. Overall, many suboptimal postharvest practices were identified among the groundnut farmers surveyed across Adamawa, Centre, and North Cameroon.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postharvest Practices, Perceptions, and Knowledge of Mycotoxins among Groundnut Farmers in the Adamawa, Centre, and North Regions of Cameroon

Ntsoli,

Boat Bedine,

Baleba

et al. 2024

Scientifica

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In many parts of the world, including Cameroon, mycotoxin contamination of groundnuts remains a major constraint affecting their use as food. Understanding the contributing factors is an essential intervention to reduce contamination and people’s exposure to these harmful toxins. The aim of this research was to identify the factors associated with the knowledge, perceptions, and postharvest practices of groundnut farmers in three production basins in Cameroon. Data were collected through surveys and analyzed using descriptive methods and logistic regression models. The results show that groundnut farmers are little aware of the existence of mycotoxins (12%) and totally unaware of the existence of aflatoxins (100%). Only 7.1% of these farmers are aware of the effects of mycotoxins on consumer health. After evaluation, the large majority of farmers scored poor marks for knowledge (86%) and practice (98.7%) in the management of mould and mycotoxins in groundnuts. Knowledge of mycotoxins was positively associated with the level of education [OR = 3.42; (95%-IC: 1.00–16.00); p<0.05] and region [OR = 4.49; (95%-IC: 1.09–20.3); p<0.05]. Farmers’ good practices were linked to their production experience [OR = 6.06, (95% CI: 0.91-18.4), p=0.035]. The use of mouldy groundnut for feed was associated with age [OR = 3.34, (95% CI: 1.14–10.2), p=0.03], sex [OR = 0. 43, (IC-95%: 1.14–1.05), p=0.026], marital status [OR = 0.35, (IC-95%: 0.14–0.79), p=0.015], and production region [OR = 0.27, (IC-95%: 0.13–0.56)]. In conclusion, groundnut farmers had insufficient knowledge of mycotoxins, no knowledge of aflatoxins, and suboptimal handling and storage practices for this commodity. This contributes to increasing the risk of exposure for the population and requires mitigation measures, including awareness campaigns on mycotoxins, specifically aflatoxins, and capacity building for farmers in terms of storage and postharvest management of foodstuffs.

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“…Due to the increased universal demand for food, the GCC intensifies crop cultivation and production, in turn, might lead to the establishment of single-crop cultivation systems ( 56 ). Additionally, underestimating of crop rotation and plantation of susceptible crops may also increase the risk of future AFs occurrence ( 57 ).…”

Section: The Upcoming Gcc and Future Afs Contamination Risksmentioning

confidence: 99%

May phytophenolics alleviate aflatoxins-induced health challenges? A holistic insight on current landscape and future prospects

2022

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The future GCC-connected environmental risk factors expedited the progression of nCDs. Indeed, the emergence of AFs is becoming a global food security concern. AFs are lethal carcinogenic mycotoxins, causing damage to the liver, kidney, and gastrointestinal organs. Long-term exposure to AFs leads to liver cancer. Almost a variety of food commodities, crops, spices, herbaceous materials, nuts, and processed foods can be contaminated with AFs. In this regard, the primary sections of this review aim to cover influencing factors in the occurrence of AFs, the role of AFs in progression of nCDs, links between GCC/nCDs and exposure to AFs, frequency of AFs-based academic investigations, and world distribution of AFs. Next, the current trends in the application of PPs to alleviate AFs toxicity are discussed. Nearly, more than 20,000 published records indexed in scientific databases have been screened to find recent trends on AFs and application of PPs in AFs therapy. Accordingly, shifts in world climate, improper infrastructures for production/storage of food commodities, inconsistency of global polices on AFs permissible concentration in food/feed, and lack of the public awareness are accounting for a considerable proportion of AFs damages. AFs exhibited their toxic effects by triggering the progression of inflammation and oxidative/nitrosative stress, in turn, leading to the onset of nCDs. PPs could decrease AFs-associated oxidative stress, genotoxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic effects by improving cellular antioxidant balance, regulation of signaling pathways, alleviating inflammatory responses, and modification of gene expression profile in a dose/time-reliant fashion. The administration of PPs alone displayed lower biological properties compared to co-treatment of these metabolites with AFs. This issue might highlight the therapeutic application of PPs than their preventative content. Flavonoids such as quercetin and oxidized tea phenolics, curcumin and resveratrol were the most studied anti-AFs PPs. Our literature review clearly disclosed that considering PPs in antioxidant therapies to alleviate complications of AFs requires improvement in their bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, tissue clearance, and off-target mode of action. Due to the emergencies in the elimination of AFs in food/feedstuffs, further large-scale clinical assessment of PPs to decrease the consequences of AFs is highly required.

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Review of good agricultural practices for smallholder maize farmers to minimise aflatoxin contamination

Cited by 21 publications

References 119 publications

Six Main Contributing Factors to High Levels of Mycotoxin Contamination in African Foods

Six Main Contributing Factors to High Levels of Mycotoxin Contamination in African Foods

Postharvest Practices, Perceptions, and Knowledge of Mycotoxins among Groundnut Farmers in the Adamawa, Centre, and North Regions of Cameroon

May phytophenolics alleviate aflatoxins-induced health challenges? A holistic insight on current landscape and future prospects

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