CAAS-ICRISAT Joint Laboratory for Groundnut Aflatoxin Management

Background
Groundnut production in China has increased dramatically in recent years with enhanced economic and social impacts. In 2012, the groundnut production was over 16.2 million tons, accounting for over 42% of the global production. The crop value in 2012 reached 110 billion yuan (18 billion US$), ranking fourth among the major field crops in China (just after rice, maize and wheat). Among the major oilseeds crops in China, groundnut has the largest production and highest yield. It has become the most important ICRISAT mandate crop in China.

However, aflatoxin contamination in groundnut in the developing countries including China is becoming an increasingly important health concern in export trade, domestic consumption, livestock and even the whole food chain. It is highly necessary to minimize the health risk to the consumers by intensifying the management.

ICRISAT, along with its fruitful efforts in groundnut crop improvement during the past 40 years, has made desirable progress in reducing aflatoxin risks for the semi-arid tropics. Even aflatoxin management remains to be difficult, ICRISAT is expected to continue to lead the concerned research in this area.

The Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (OCRI-CAAS) located in Wuhan has continued its research on groundnut aflatoxin management for more than 20 years with assistance of ICRISAT. Genetic resistance to aflatoxin contamination has been extensively conducted and valuable germplasm has been identified and even released to production. More recently, marked progress has been made in developing high quality antibodies for various aflatoxin components and fast testing facilities.

Based on the above background, the CAAS-ICRISAT Joint Laboratory for Groundnut Aflatoxin Management was set up on June 8, 2013 at OCRI in Wuhan. The inauguration ceremony of the Joint Laboratory was attended by Mr Jinxiang Li, vice president of CAAS, Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, and key staff of ICRISAT including Drs CLL Gowda, Farid Warliya, and Hari Sudini and CAAS including Drs Dongxin Feng, Hanzhong Wang, Boshou Liao and Peiwu Li.

Key Research Fields for the Joint Laboratory
1.Genetic enhancement for resistance to aflatoxin contamination
----Germplasm evaluation for resistance
----Mechanism of resistance
----QTL mapping for resistance and MAS
----Breeding for integrating resistance with desirable genetic background

2.Monitoring system of groundnut aflatoxin in different agri-ecological zones

3.Development of aflatoxin detection techniques

4.Integrated management approaches for important zones, including utilization of genetic resistance, improved crop management and even bio-control agents.

Cooperative Activities
1.Exchange of scientists through regular workshops.
2.Exchange of groundnut germplasm and other materials.
3.Complementation of joint experiments.
4.Application of joint proposals.
5.Publication of joint research results.