Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa cry for tightly closed ear drooping maize phenotypes

摘要

Maize is a very important staple food crop in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA), but the production has been below optimum. One important constraint to maize production is grain rot/ear rot, which has been reported to cause yield losses ranging between 13% and70%. Of concern is that most of the ear-rot-causing fungi like Fusarium spp., Aspergillus spp., and Penicillium spp. produce mycotoxins, which are fungal metabolites that are. hazardous to human and animal health. Some of the worst aflatoxin outbreaks were reported in Kenya between 2004 and 2007, during which hundreds of people died of mycotoxin-related sicknesses. This was considered one of the worst epidemics in human history.