Fungal Biomass Load and Aspergillus flavus in a Controlled Environment

Fungal biomass quantification is critical in understanding the interactions between the pathogen and susceptibility or resistance of the host plant as well as identifying competition between individual fungal spp. in disease progression. In the present chapter, two maize lines grown in different climatic regions of Kenya were infected with an aflatoxigenic A. flavus isolate (KSM014) and fungal colonization of the maize plant tissues was monitored by measuring fungal biomass load after 14 days in a controlled environment. The objective of the study was to determine whether the maize line colonized was a factor in increasing or limiting the growth of an aflatoxigenic strain of Aspergillus flavus.