U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home News & Events News Articles Research News 2002





- ARS News & Events
- AgResearch Magazine
- Image Gallery
- News
- Search News & Events
- Pesticide Drift May Endanger Pollinators
- ARS Seeks a Fire Ant Fix
- Scientific Discoveries 2024
- ARS Featured Photos
- Down on the Farm
- Facebook Live Events
- Food and Nutrition Research Briefs
- News Archive
- Science in Your Shopping Cart
- Scientific Discoveries
- Social Media
- Under the Microscope
- AgResearch magazine
- ARS at Work
- ARS Memorial Lectures
- ARS Science Hall of Fame
- Citrus Disease (Huanglongbing)
- Contact Office of Communications
- Plant Hardiness Zone Map
- Mobile Apps
- Public Affairs Contacts
- Publications and Other Resources
- USDA Blog
- Videos

Archived Page
 This page has been archived and is being provided for reference purposes only. The page is no longer being updated, and therefore, links on the page may be invalid.
 Click image for caption and other photo information.
Read the magazine story to find out more.
Biopesticide on Tap Against Aflatoxin
By Jan SuszkiwJanuary 7, 2002
Helping peanut farmers curtail fungi that contaminate their crop’s seed with aflatoxin is becoming a reality because of a biological pesticide developed by Agricultural Research Service scientists in Dawson, Ga.
The toxicity of aflatoxin, a fungal carcinogen, to humans and livestock makes it a costly problem for farmers, who lack direct means of controlling the fungi, and for peanut shellers once the seed has been harvested. By law, peanuts with more than 15 parts per billion of aflatoxin can’t be used in edible products. In Florida, Georgia and Alabama, aflatoxin outbreaks from 1993 to 1996 caused losses averaging $26 million annually. The main culprits, Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, are fungi that occur naturally in soils.
Seeking a frontline defense against them, microbiologist Joe Dorner and his ARS colleagues turned their attention to nature. There, they identified benign, or nontoxigenic, strains of Aspergillus that compete with the aflatoxin-producing fungi for space and resources both need in order to grow.
Over the past 14 years, Dorner and other scientists at ARS’ National Peanut Research Laboratory in Dawson perfected methods of growing, formulating and applying the beneficial Aspergillus spores. Their approach, called bio-competitive exclusion, involves “seeding” these formulated spores around the base of peanut plants. There, by colonizing soils in the peanut pod zone, the mold becomes a living shield that blocks the aflatoxin-producing fungi.
In recent field tests, applying the formulation at a rate of 20 pounds per acre reduced aflatoxin levels by 70 to 90 percent versus untreated, control plots, Dorner reports.
Circle One Global, Inc., of Cuthbert, GA, has applied for an exclusive license on the biopesticide, and the Dawson lab is helping the company test commercial-scale methods of producing it.
A more detailed article appears in this month’s issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific research agency.


Return to top


Research
                            Media
                            About ARS
                            Work With Us


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov