Mean geocarposphere temperatures that induce preharvest aflatoxin contamination of peanuts under drought stress.

Apparently undamaged peanuts grown under environmental stress in the form of drought and heat become contaminated with Aspergillus flavus and aflatoxin in the soil prior to harvest. The upper mean temperature limit for aflatoxin contamination in undamaged peanut kernels grown under drought stress the latter 4-6 weeks of the growing season was between 29.6-31.3 degrees C. The lower limit was between 25.7-26.3 degrees C. That is, peanuts grown under drought stress with a mean geocarposphere temperature of 29.6 degrees C were highly contaminated while those at 31.3 degrees C were not contaminated. Likewise, those grown under drought stress with a mean geocarposphere temperature of 25.7 degrees C were not contaminated while those subjected to a mean geocarposphere temperature of 26.0 degrees C resulted in some categories becoming contaminated. Increasing the mean temperature up to 29.6 degrees C caused increasing amounts of contamination.