In this study, we investigated the potential for aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and B2 (AFB2) production
in rice grain by 127 strains of Aspergillus flavus isolated from rice grains collected from
China. These strains were inoculated onto rice grains and incubated at 28 C for 21 days. AFB1
and AFB2 were extracted and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with
fluorescence detection. Among the tested strains, 37% produced AFB1 and AFB2 with levels ranging
from 175 to 124101 lg kg1 for AFB1 and from not detected to 10329 lg kg1 for AFB2. The
mean yields of these isolates were 5884 lg kg1 for AFB1 and 1968 lg kg1 for AFB2. Overall, most
of the aflatoxigenic strains produced higher levels of AFB1 than AFB2 in rice. The obtained information
is useful for assessing the risk of aflatoxin contamination in rice samples.