Aflatoxin Management in Crops: Challenges and Opportunities

Aflatoxin Management in Crops: Challenges and Opportunities provides a comprehensive look at current insights into aflatoxin contamination in agricultural crops and its effect on human health on global level. With insights from around the globe, it presents the latest advances in the understanding of the contamination and management strategies for aflatoxins in cereals, millets, oilseed, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. Aflatoxin contamination in crops is a global threat that compromises the safety of food, feed, and also influence the agricultural economy and crop-dependent small scale industries. Crops can be contaminated during the process of harvesting, storing, and transporting by the fungi and leads to the productions of several mycotoxins. Aflatoxin can be extremely harmful if consumed, being linked to cancer-, immune-, and nutritionally related diseases. Aflatoxin Management in Crops: Challenges and Opportunities includes the biology of fungi and the chemistry behind the toxicity level of different aflatoxin strains as well as advances in detection techniques and management strategies. It concludes by exploring the different effects of aflatoxin on human health and regulatory laws to control its contamination.

• Presents recent research and challenges in aflatoxin detection, identification, and management in a variety of crops
• Includes regulatory aspects from around the world
• Explores techniques and equipment for managing contamination

Sajad Majeed Zargar, Ph.D, is currently an Assistant Professor at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Sciences & Technology in India and visiting Professor at University of Padova, Italy. Dr. Zargar is the recipient of the CREST overseas fellowship from DBT, the Goho grant from Govt. of Japan, and the Erasmus Fellowship from European Union. He is also a member and representative of INPPO (International Plant Proteomics Organisation). His editorial activities and scientific memberships include publishing research and review articles in international journals and is also reviewer.

Dr. Jebi Sudan did his M.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (2013) from GB Pant University and his Ph.D. in Biotechnology (2017) from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu. He has published over fifteen publications in various journals of repute. He was working as an Assistant Professor in JECRC University, Jaipur.

Prof. Hardik Pathak is working as Head, Department of Biotechnology, JECRC University, Jaipur. During his career, he held many important administrative and research positions like Head of Department of Biotechnology (2004 to till date), Member of RPEC JECRC University, Member of the Board of Studies of Biotechnology and Member of IQAC JECRC University. He worked in areas of Bioremediation and Biodegradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons, Microbial Technology, Phytoremediation of Heavy Metals.

Prof. Antonio Masi has obtained a Master-level degree in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Padova. He carried out studies at the Pflanzen physiologisches Institut in Bern, Switzerland (1990), and at the Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Berkeley (1994-95) in the field of plant molecular biology, plant physiology, biochemistry and techniques in microscopy, and carried out research focused on the damage caused by ultraviolet radiation at photosynthesis level. He received a PhD in Photobiology in 1996. He has been working at the University of Padova from 1996. Teaching: "Plant Biochemistry and Physiology", "Plant Biology" , "Plant Natural Products" ,"Analytic methods for the quality and safety of agricultural products". In 2004 he was recipient of a Fulbright grant for research in plant proteomics at Cornell University, Ithaca-NY. April through june 2010: visiting professor at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal, within the European programme "Sutrofor" - Sustainable Tropical Forestry. He is currently involved in the following research areas: effects of UV-B radiation in crops; plant sulphur metabolism; plant thiols; oxidative stress and antioxidants in plants; functions of gamma-glutamyl transferase in glutathione transport and degradation; biological effects of humic substances and biostimulants; comparative plant proteomics and application of proteomics in agricultural and food science; factors affecting the uptake and distribution of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances in plants