Aflatoxin-Resistant Corn Seeds Available

Matt Hopkins Posted by Matt Hopkins|24 May 2010

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, US — Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at Food and Feed Safety Research Unit in the ARS Southern Regional Research Center, along with colleagues at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan, Nigeria, have developed six new corn inbred lines with resistance to aflatoxin contamination, says ARS News. Seeds from these lines, which are also free of seed-borne diseases foreign to the United States,  are now available for researchers in the US to develop toward commercialization.

The six inbred lines — called TZAR101, 102, 103, 104, 105, and 106 — can be obtained and planted in the US to further evaluate aflatoxin resistance. The fungus Aspergillus flavus creates cancer-causing aflatoxins as a byproduct after infecting corn and other crops. A. flavus is found in soil, on crops and in the air.

Seed samples of these and other lines can be requested from http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=36-25-12-00.