Groundnut Improvement for Aflatoxin Resistance: Progress and Opportunities

ABSTRACT Groundnut, or peanut, is an industrial oilseed crop that serves the food and feed industries and provides income along the value chain. Pre‐ and post‐harvest aflatoxin contamination, caused by Aspergillus spp., hinders the food and feed value and market opportunities of groundnut products. Developing and deploying aflatoxin‐resistant varieties is the most sustainable and economic approach to control aflatoxin for human and animal well‐being. Variable resistance to Aspergillus infection and disease development has been reported, depending on cultivar susceptibility, crop management practices, and environmental conditions. Hence, understanding the physical, biochemical, and genetic basis of resistance mechanisms to Aspergillus infection is vital for the design and deployment of new varieties. Despite modest global efforts, notably in effective aflatoxin diagnosis and identification of the toxic secondary metabolites, there are limited breeding efforts that have bred and deployed aflatoxin‐resistant varieties. This review aims to present the impacts of groundnut aflatoxin contamination and the progress and opportunities in resistance breeding using current technologies and innovations. The first section presents the production status of groundnut and the extent and conditions of aflatoxin contamination. Aflatoxin control methods and components of resistance are described in the second section, followed by progress and opportunities of resistance breeding with advanced technologies, including omics‐assisted and gene‐editing approaches. Information presented in the review may guide breeding and genetic management of aflatoxin, targeting the development of new varieties with desirable product profiles and durable resistance to control aflatoxin contamination along value chains.