Introduction: Aflatoxin is the main mycotoxin that harms animal and human health due to its carcinogenic nature and mainly released by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Aflatoxin B1 constitutes the most harmful type of aflatoxin and is a potent hepatocarcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and it suppresses the immune system.

Aim: The present study was aimed at determining the Aflatoxin contamination in the Zea mays L. & Arachis hypogea L. kernels by using various morphological and analytical techniques.

Materials & Methods: Initially, the cultures were developed using potato dextrose agar medium. The strains were treated with ammonium vapor & lactophenol blue staining to identify the presence of Aspergillus contamination. The Aflatoxins were identified by ELISA by competitive indirect method and HPLC using monolithic column (100 × 4.6 mm) equipped with a fluorescence detector. The mobile phase (water: methanol 55:45, v/v) was pumped at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. DNA from mycelia of toxigenic and non-toxigenic A. flavus, A. parasiticus were subjected to quadraplex PCR using nor-1, ver-1, omt-A and aflR primers.

Results: Sporulation began after three days from the centre and progressed radially covering the surface of the colony. The conidia produced had yellowish to olive colour. The microscopic features of A. flavus under the basic biological light microscope showed that the colonies were biseriate with philiades radiating in all sides from metulae born on subglobose or globose vesicles of variable size. The colony reverse of aflatoxin producing strains of Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus turned pink upon cultures exposed to ammonia vapor. The results obtained from the cultural TLC, ELISA & HPLC showed significant production of AFB1 followed by AFB2 from the isolates of ground nut sample and  maize sample. Quadraplex PCR analysis showed the bands of the fragments nor-1, ver-1, omt-A and aflR genes visualized at 400, 537, 797 and 1032 bp, respectively.

Conclusion: There is an emergency to provide insight into the sources of contamination, occurrence, detection techniques and masked aflatoxins, in addition to management strategies to ensure food safety and security.

Key Words: Mycotoxins, Aflatoxin, Aspergillus Sps, Zea mays L, Arachis hypogea L