The effects of harvest time and drying methods on aflatoxin production of some almond types grown in Turkey

This Project aimed to determine the susceptibility of some almond types/cultivars grown in Turkey to aflatoxin production harvested at different harvest dates and subjected to different drying type. For this purpose, the following cultivars with different shell hardness were selected: ‘Ferraduel’, ‘Ferragnes’, ‘Texas’, ‘Halitbey’, ‘Bozkurt’ and ‘Nonpareil’. Almonds were harvested at two different dates (early and normal harvest times) and analyzed for their aflatoxin content before drying. Each sample was then dried to 5% moisture content with and without dehulling and analyzed for its aflatoxin content to determine the effect of hulling before drying on aflatoxin production. The results showed that aflatoxin production was not determined in the early harvested almonds before and after drying. Among the samples of normal harvested almonds, the aflatoxin contamination was determined in two samples in the first year and three samples in the second year of the project. As a result, 5 samples were found to be contaminated with aflatoxin in a total of 66 almond samples analyzed in two years. However, aflatoxin levels of these 5 samples were below the allowed maximum levels. It can be concluded that, when almonds are cultivated at areas where the weather is hot and relative humidity is low during maturation and harvest period, followed by a good drying process, almond has low risk in terms of aflatoxin production.