Atoxigenics Offer Aflatoxin Mitigation Made Possible by Corn Checkoff

With final prep underway and many planters already in the fields across much of the state, Texas farmers’ minds are looking toward the growing season ahead. Its opportunities. And its challenges.

Thanks to the state’s corn checkoff, which has invested in atoxigenic research for well over a decade, aflatoxin is one risk that farmers may be able to mitigate.

Farmers nationwide — particularly in the South — have long been plagued by aflatoxin. This mycotoxin is produced by Aspergillus fungi, which is a naturally-occurring substance found in some commodities, including corn. If livestock or humans consume too high aflatoxin levels, they face food safety and nutrition issues. Thus, aflatoxin levels are closely monitored, and farmers see quality loss adjustments or even total loss at the end of the year if they harvest and sell a crop with aflatoxin levels beyond the regulated threshold.

The farmer leaders of Texas’ corn checkoff board recognized aflatoxin’s potentially detrimental effect on corn crops and farmers’ bottom lines. That’s why they partnered with researchers to investigate a tool to combat this common issue.

This research led to the development of naturally-occurring, non-toxin-producing strain of Aspergillus flavus utilized to displace the toxin-producing strains: atoxigenics.

Since atoxigenic research began in 2010, three atoxigenic products have been developed for use on Texas corn fields: 

First Generation

• Afla-Guard®, a Syngenta product
• Prevail (AF 36)

Next Generation

• FourSure®

First-generation products contain one strain of Aspergillus flavus, while the next-generation product contains four strains. FourSure joined the first-generation products in the 2024 growing season as a commercially available tool for farmers to use on Texas corn crops. Texas Corn Producers (TCP) encourages farmers looking to mitigate their aflatoxin risk to consider these atoxigenic tools as the 2025 growing season gets underway.