Some fungi, zearalenone and other mycotoxins in chicken rations, stock feedstuffs, lucerne and pasture grasses in the communal farming area of Rhenosterkop in South Africa

Abstract

Mycotoxins may be present in feeds without any visible signs of mould contamination. There is a need for rapid and accurate measurement of mycotoxins for purposes of continual monitoring and identification of high risk commodities. Samples from commercial chicken feed (maize kernels), cattle feed (lucerne, grass and hay) and milk were analysed for the presence of certain mycotoxins and cultured for fungi. Results of fungal profiles showed that most samples were contaminated by moulds belonging to the genera, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Mucor, Phoma and Rhizopus. All the chicken feed samples tested contained mycotoxins either below the recommended safe levels for poultry or below the detection limits of the ELISA tests. However, samples of grass contained levels of zearalenone greater than the allowable concentration for dairy and beef cattle (250 ppm), which may be linked to the presence of Fusarium scirpi identified in the fungal profiles. The levels of AFM1 were below the detection limits of the ELISA tests, which may be attributed to the low levels of aflatoxins found in the feed (grass) samples. The presence of the fungus in samples analysed is not evidence for the presence of mycotoxins.

Effect of low levels of aflatoxin B1 on performance, biochemical parameters, and aflatoxin B1 in broiler liver tissues in the presence of monensin and sodium bentonite

“…The presence of potential AF producer strains and AFB 1 in commercial poultry feeds has been extensively reported in previous studies (Dalcero et al, 1997(Dalcero et al, , 1998Oliveira et al, 2006;Fraga et al, 2007;Naicker et al, 2007;Zinedine et al, 2007). However, the aim of producers, researchers, and governments is to develop effective prevention management and decontamination technologies to minimize the toxic effects of AF in animal production.…”

Mycotoxins in South African foods: a case study on aflatoxin M1 in milk

“…maize (Rava et al 1996). As levels in dairy feed are regulated, levels currently found in feeds are generally below this limit (Naiker et al 2007), but if farmers produce their own commodities and feed, this may exceed the limit at various times due to lack of strict quality control. Inevitably this will lead to AFM1 in the milk of animals fed contaminated feed, which is the case in Kenya (Kang'ethe and Lang'a 2009).…”

Possible microbial and biochemical contaminants of an indigenous banana beer Urwagwa: A mini review

“…Apart from aflatoxins, fumonisins, deoxynivalenol and ochratoxin A, which are regarded as important mycotoxins, based on their worldwide occurrences and intoxication (Ayalew et al, 2006;Naicker et al, 2007), zearalenone is also amongst the important mycotoxins implicated in contamination of sorghum grains. Furthermore, it has been reported that Fusarium isolates from bananas can also produce zearalenone (Jiménez et al, 1997).…”