# The Efficacy of Clove Oil Against Aspergillus flavus and the Production of Aflatoxin B1 in Organic Peanuts in Georgia

## TL;DR

This study shows clove oil can effectively reduce dangerous aflatoxin B1 in infected peanuts, offering a natural alternative to synthetic methods.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates clove essential oil's efficacy in reducing aflatoxin B1 at low concentrations in organic peanuts.

## Key findings

- Clove essential oil significantly reduced aflatoxin B1 in infected peanuts.
- High reduction in aflatoxin B1 was observed even at low concentrations of clove oil.
- Clove EO shows promise as a biological control agent against Aspergillus flavus.

## Abstract

Georgia produces half of the United States’ peanuts,
but
the Southeast loses 25 million U.S. dollars annually due to aflatoxins
from Aspergillus spp. contamination. Aspergillus flavus produces aflatoxin B1 (AFB1),
one of the most toxic and carcinogenic substances affecting humans,
livestock, and crops globally. Synthetic chemicals, genetic engineering,
and biological control methods have been employed against A. flavus with limited success. Recently, there has
been considerable interest in using plant-based antimicrobial compounds
against mold. Our previous study established the aflatoxigenic properties
of clove essential oil (EO) against A. flavus. We now evaluate the effectiveness of clove EO in artificially inoculated
organic peanuts. Tween 20 served as a control, and all experiments
were done in replicates. AFB1 was quantified using selected ion monitoring
(SIM) based liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS)
techniques. Our findings demonstrated that a high concentration of
clove EO significantly reduced AFB1 in infected peanuts. Interestingly,
a high reduction in AFB1 production was observed between 0 and 500
ppm, and the reduction increased slightly at higher concentrations
of 1000 and 2000 ppm, respectively. Our results demonstrate that clove
EO is most effective at reducing AFB1 in infected peanuts at low concentrations.
We will further investigate the potential of clove EO as a biological
control agent against A. flavus.