To quantify surface fungi, five samples (30 g) were collected from each bag layer. Each sample was placed in a flask with 50 mL of 0.05% Triton X-100 solution and shaken for 1 min. The kernel wash was serially diluted and plated onto malt salt agar (MSA) medium (McDonough et al., 2011), and incubated for 3 days at 30 °C to obtain fungal colony counts (CFU). The resulting washed kernels were transferred to a beaker containing bleach (5% NaOCl), stirred for 1 min, and washed twice with sterile water. For each layer in the bag, three samples of 50 kernels were plated onto MSA medium. Kernel infection rate was determined by counting the number of kernels exhibiting fungal growth after three days of incubation at 30 °C. The maize in the three non-inoculated grain satchels in each bag were combined and mixed well. A subsample of 50 g was taken for aflatoxin analysis, and the remaining grain was surface sterilized and plated onto MSA medium to obtain a kernel infection rate.