The Inhibitory Activity of Salicylaldehyde Compounds on _Aspergillus_ Species and Their Effects on Aflatoxin Production and Crop Seed Germination  
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identified as a risk factor for mycotoxin contamination in wheat [9]. Also, a chiral triazole fungicide prothioconazole could induce the synthesis of deoxynivalenol (DON) by the wheat pathogen _Fusarium graminearum_[10]. Afflatoxins (AFs) are a group of polyketide metabolites (difuranocouramis) produced by the strains of _Aspergillus_ section Flavi, for which _Aspergillus flavus_ and _Aspergillus parasitics_ are the main species associated with AF contamination or outbreak [11]. AFs trigger acute toxicity in human/poultry, which is mainly due to the hepatotoxic, immuno-modulatory, mutagenic/carcinogenic and teratogenic effects of AFs [12]. After consumption by human/poultry, AFs are metabolically activated by the hepatic cytochrome P450s (CYPs), leading to the formation of toxic, reactive AF-8,9-exo-epoxide; the resulting 8,9-dihydro-8-(N7-guanyl)-9-hydroxyAF adduct triggers mutations (GC to TA frameshift transversions) or other DNA damages such as chromosomal breaks, aberrations, etc. [13]. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), AFs (AFB\({}_{1}\), AFB\({}_{2}\), AFG\({}_{1}\), AFG\({}_{2}\)) are characterized as Group 1 carcinogenic to humans [14]. Due to the risk of AF contamination in food/feed crops, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers programs for AF testing of crops destined for export to foreign countries including those in the European Union (EU) [15]. AFs are commonly found in major food/feed crops including corn, peanuts, tree nuts (almonds, pistachios), dried fruits as well as milk [16; 17]. Environmental factors, such as temperature, humidity/rain precipitation, drought, etc., affect the growth of AF-producing fungi on crops during cultivation, harvest and/or storage [17]. For example, temperature stress is the cause of fungal establishment on field crops, while high water activity and temperature trigger the growth of fungi in grains during storage [16]. Corn is highly susceptible to infection by AF-producing _Aspergillus_ strains and subsequent AF contamination [18; 19]. _Aspergillus_ spores released from fungal mycelium/sclerotic present in soil are dispersed by wind, and then infect the developing infloresances of corn [18; 19]. Similarly, pistachios are also susceptible to AF contamination [20]. Of note, while the hull of pistachios remains intact during the natural split of shells prior to harvest, it is reported that around 1-4% of orchard pistachios exhibit an early split during growth (namely, the hulls split with the shell), which exposes the pistachio kernel to fungi as well as insect pests [21]. These early-split pistachios exhibit a higher level of AF contamination compared to the non-split nuts [21], thus requiring proper control measures for the prevention of AF contamination. Innovative technologies have been developed to control AF contamination in foods/feeds, which include (but are not limited to) (1) gamma radiation (damaging microbial DNA) [22], (2) UV irradiation (destroying fungal cell wall and nucleic acids) [23], (3) ozone fumigation (detoxifying AFs) [24], (4) chemical agents (exerting AF reduction and degradation) [25], and (5) sorting techniques (differentiating AF-contaminated corn kernels) [26]. Of note, biological control has been developed as a sustainable AF control strategy for corn and pistachios, for which atoxigenic (namely, non-AF producing) _A. flavus_ has been applied for long-term crop protection against _Aspergillus_ strains [27; 28; 29]. Recently, _A. parasitics_ mutants resistant to anilinopyrimidine fungicides produced AFs at concentrations much higher than a wild-type strain [30]. [PERSON] et al. [31] also reported that _A.