ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Rijo Johny1,2, P. Gurumoorthi2 and Dinesh Singh Bisht3
1Quality Evaluation Laboratory, Spices Board, Gummidipoondi, Tamil Nadu, India.
2Department of Food Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu, India.
3Quality Evaluation Laboratory, Spices Board, Narela, Delhi, India.
Article Number: 10852 | © The Author(s). 2026
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2026;20(1):744-755. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.20.1.58
Received: 07 August 2025 | Accepted: 22 January 2026 | Published online: 09 March 2026
Issue online: March 2026
Abstract

A bacterial strain isolated from chilli pepper was identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens using VITEK 2, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, and 16S rRNA sequencing. Designated SBCHGBA1, this strain was assessed for its ability to inhibit the growth of Aspergillus species and suppress aflatoxin synthesis. On trypticase soy agar, SBCHGBA1 exhibited strong antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus MTCC2798 and Aspergillus parasiticus MTCC411. Among 15 Aspergillus flavus strains tested, 13 produced detectable aflatoxin levels (7.0-257.4 µg/l) in trypticase soy broth after 14 days at 25 °C. Remarkably, co-cultivation with SBCHGBA1 completely inhibited aflatoxin production in all except in one strain. Additionally, a 77% reduction in aflatoxin content was observed in chilli pepper inoculated with Aspergillus flavus MTCC2798 when co-cultured with SBCHGBA1. These findings highlight Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SBCHGBA1 as a promising biocontrol agent for mitigating aflatoxin contamination in chilli peppers and related food systems.

Keywords

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus, Aflatoxin

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© The Author(s) 2026. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.