Post-harvest contamination of maize by Fusarium verticillioides and fumonisins linked to traditional harvest and post-harvest practices: A case study of small-holder farms in Vietnam

Together with conducive climatic factors, poor pre-harvest practices of ethnic small-holder farmers are a major cause of the contamination of maize by Fusarium verticillioides and fumonisins. The proliferation of this field pathogen and the accumulation of its mycotoxins in post-harvest maize caused by ethnic post-harvest practices of subsistence farms have received little attention. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of traditional harvest and post-harvest practices on the proliferation of F. verticillioides and fumonisins contamination in post-harvest maize of two ethnic groups: Ede and Kinh from the central highlands of Vietnam. In parallel with analysis, a survey on harvest and post-harvest practices of these farmers was conducted from late December 2017 to early January 2019. As a result, four effective post-harvest practices at mitigating the contamination were defined: (1) removal of damaged cobs at harvest, (2) transport of maize home after harvest, (3) shelling maize away from fields, and (4) drying maize on cement yards. These practices were better implemented by Kinh households than Ede households reducing the post-harvest contamination of maize with F. verticillioides and fumonisin B1 (FB1), FB2, and FB3. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement with respect to inadequate open-air drying method, poor storage infrastructure, and poor moisture content management as these correlated to the proliferation of F. verticillioides. Finally, the presence of fumonisins together with aflatoxins in some samples at the storage phase might cause a severe impact on human health.