ABSTRACT
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an annual legume which is also known as peanut, earthnut, monkeynut and goobers. It is the 13th most important food crop and 4th most important oilseed crop of the world. Groundnut seeds are a nutritional source of vitamin E, niacin, falacin, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, iron, riboflavin, thiamine and potassium. Groundnut kernels are consumed directly as raw, roasted or boiled kernels or oil extracted from the kernel is used as culinary oil. It is also used as animal feed (oil pressings, seeds, green material and straw) and industrial raw material (oil cakes and fertilizer). These multiple uses of groundnut plant make it an excellent cash crop for domestic markets as well as for foreign trade in several developing and developed countries. The crop is affected by several diseases like leaf spots, collar rot, rust, bud necrosis, stem necrosis etc. Apart from these, aflatoxin is one of the major problems, produced in the infected peanut seeds by Aspergillus flavus Link ex fries and Aspergillus parasiticus Speare, particularly at the end of season under drought conditions (Diener et al., 1987). Aflatoxins are highly carcinogenic, immunosuppressive agents, highly toxic and fatal to humans and animals particularly affecting liver and digestive track. Aflatoxin is a potent human carcinogen. It is a naturally occurring toxic metabolite produced by certain fungi (Aspergillus flavus), a mold found on food products such as corn and peanuts, peanut butter. It acts as a potent liver carcinogen in rodents (and, presumably, humans). They are probably the best known and most intensively researched mycotoxins in the world. Aflatoxins have been associated with various diseases, such as aflatoxicosis, in livestock, domestic animals and humans throughout the world. In the present chapter, a detailed account on groundnut aflatoxins induced by A. flavus group of fungi was presented.