Occurrence of Aflatoxin B1, T-2 Toxin and Zearalenone in Compound Animal Feed

Abstract

This study was performed to determine mycotoxin (aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), T-2 toxin and Zearalenone (ZEA)) levels in compound ruminant feeds collected from local feed sellers in Samsun province, Turkey. Forty compound feed samples were collected and analyzed by the ELISA method. The mean and standard error of the AFB1 were 6.81 +/- 0.81 (range 0.15-32) mu g kg(-1). T-2 toxin and ZEA levels were 33.87 +/- 5.80 (2.24-132.2) mu g kg(-1) and 175.26 +/- 43.05 (51.61-1023.25) mu g kg(-1), respectively. The incidence of Aflatoxin B I (AFB1), T-2 toxin and Zearalenone (ZEA) in compound feeds was found to be 95, 65 and 87.5%, respectively. Although, most of samples were found to be contaminated with mycotoxins, the levels of contamination for AFB1 and T-2 toxins were found to be relatively lower than that of ZEA levels in the feed samples. The types and levels of mycotoxins present varied. The most common contaminants were the AFB1 and ZEA. Twenty-three of the samples contained three types of mycotoxins (57.5%). Only one sample did not contain any mycotoxin (2.5%). Two samples contained only AFB1 (5%) and the rest (14 samples) contained two types of mycotoxins (3 5%). The mycotoxin found in highest levels was ZEA and the mycotoxin with the higher frequency of occurrence was AFB1. Correlation between the occurrence of the Fusarium toxins (T-2 toxins and ZEA) was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05).