ECOLOGY OF A FUNGUS-INDUCED HOT SPOT IN STORED GRAIN

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Abstract
The ecology of a fungus-induced hot spot was studied from 2975 samples collected from two 500-bu wheat bulks stored in a granary at Winnipeg, Man., during 1959–61. Heating was initiated in winter primarily by the activity of the low temperature fungi Penicillium cyclopium Thorn and P. funiculosum Thorn growing in a 4-month-old grain pocket at −5 to 8 °C and 18.5 to 21.8% water content. The hot spot reached a maximum of 64 °C, and cooled in 2 weeks. An ecological succession of species of microorganisms, which often overlapped, appeared in the following order: P. cyclopium, P. funiculosum, Aspergillus flavus Link, A. versicolor (Vuill.) Tiraboschi, Absidia spp., and Streptomyces spp. Periodic examination of grain samples from the hot spot, and the cool grain surrounding it during the 18 months after the decline of the hot spot, revealed that the microflora from a fungus-induced hot spot, once dead, does not affect the entire grain bulk.