DEEDI AFLATOXIN MONITORING PROGRAM ON THE WEB
Aflatoxin contamination in peanut crops continues to pose a serious threat to grower returns. The aflatoxin management program developed by the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI), the Peanut Company of Australia (PCA) and Burnett peanut growers has had a major impact in reducing on-farm aflatoxin incidence. The program involves a series of pre- and post harvest management techniques that minimise aflatoxin incidence including timely harvest, fully inverted windrows, quick threshing, pre-cleaning and efficient artificial drying to safe pod moisture content.
The most useful aspect of the program is assessing “when” is the optimal time to harvest the crop. In high aflatoxin risk years, where end-of-season drought and high soil temperatures persist, it is important that the crop is pulled early so that pods do not enter critical kernel moisture content of 15-30%, where aflatoxin production commences. In low risk years, where soil water content is high and soil temperatures are low, the crop should be allowed to reach full maturity to maximise pod yield and grade out.
A number of information services have been established by DEEDI to assist growers with the critical harvesting time decision to minimise aflatoxin in their crops. The first involves a weekly section in the South Burnett Times, which provides information on changes in soil water content, soil temperature and predicted aflatoxin risk for the main production regions in Kumbia, Wooroolin and Coalstoun Lakes. This information is being collected from a series of “core” model farms, which represent the aflatoxin risk status of crops in these various production regions. The regional aflatoxin information is available for viewing at www.apsim.info/afloman.
While the above regional aflatoxin information is useful for peanut growers, it is not specific to each crop, which may vary significantly owing to variations in planting date, variety, soil type etc…. From the 2004/05 growing season for growers who are interested in accessing this information for their own farms, DEEDI has implemented a novel internet based aflatoxin monitoring program called “AFLOMAN” which provides up to date information on individual peanut fields.
To be involved in the scheme, growers will need to complete a ‘Grower Establishment Form’ for each peanut paddock, which will record details such as variety, planting date, soil type etc…. DEEDI will assist growers in completing this form and setting up an account on the AFLOMAN program, including a user name and password to allow future access.
Once a paddock is registered on the AFLOMAN website, there are a number of options for obtaining results, which vary depending on individual grower interest and level of detail required. Growers are required to input daily rainfall, and ambient and soil temperatures recorded in their paddocks via the internet. This information is sent to the AFLOMAN program where the computer based aflatoxin model runs. Results including changes in soil moisture, soil temperature and aflatoxin risk probability are then posted on the web for viewing by growers. This program allows growers to access up to date information (for example every couple of days) for each of their paddocks.
An additional feature of AFLOMAN allows the addition of infra red remotely sensed satellite images of fields, as a potential aid for managing maturity and aflatoxin contamination. These images will be provided by Dr Andrew Robson, Image Analyst. This technology allows growers to identify regions of a crop showing greater stress and the higher potential for aflatoxin risk.
Peanut growers are encouraged to become involved in the AFLOMAN program. Please contact Drs Yash Chauhan or RCN Rachaputi at the DEEDI, Kingaroy on 0741 600 700 to arrange a time to set up this program on your computer.
We acknowledge funding support for the AFLOMAN program over the past seven years from DEEDI, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and PCA. We also acknowledge the Agricultural Production Systems Research Unit (APSRU) team, and in particular Mr Dean Holzworth and Dr Michael Robertson from CSIRO, for providing technical input and backup for the AFLOMAN program.
Every effort has been made by DEEDI to use reliable sources and research methods to produce the technical information contained in the aflatoxin risk model. The model is however experimental in nature and DEEDI can give no guarantee that relying on the information will necessarily result in lowered on-farm aflatoxin levels. This information is provided on the understanding that reliance on any information provided gives rise to no cause of action against the State of Queensland, its officers, employees or agents under the common law tort of negligence for any loss by any person acting or refraining from action on reliance upon any of the information.