Abstract

Mycotoxin production as a result of mycotic contamination of animal feeds presents a major concern to public health. It therefore becomes imperative to generate data on the mycological contamination and potential mycotoxins production with the aim of determining suitable shelf life for swine and poultry feed. For a period of eight weeks, a total of 25 swine feed samples including five samples each of Dusa (Grain husk), Soya beans, Bone meal, Brewer’s residue (Burukutu) and Rice offal and 20 poultry feeds samples including five samples each of Broiler starter, Broiler finisher, Chick mash and Layer mash were collected on a weekly basis from the University of Agriculture Makurdi (UAM) animal farm and tested immediately for Moisture Content (MC), Total Mold Count (TMC), Fungal Isolation Frequency (FIF) and Relative Density (RD). The relative abundance of mycotic load from swine feed include Aspergillus species (42.6%), Fusarium species (36.4%), Alternaria and Acremonium species (29.6% each) in bone meal, brewers residue and rice offal respectively while for the poultry feed Aspergillus (38.1%) and Penicillium species (33.3%) in starter and finisher, Penicillium, Rhizopus and Curvularia had 27.6% in the chick mash with 20.0% of Curvulariain the layers mash. Mycotoxins detected included aflatoxin B1 and B2, ochratoxins A and B, patulin, sterigmatocystin, zeralenone and citrinin. Our results show the presence of mycotoxins in feed vis-a-vis deterioration in feed quality thus reducing shelf-life.

Keywords: Aspergillus; Mycotoxin; Penicillium; Poultry; Sterigmatocystin; Swine

Abbreviations: MC: Moisture Content; TMC: Total Mold Count; FIF: Fungal Isolation Frequency; RD: Relative Density; MAE: Malt Extract Agar; TLC: Thin Layer Chromatography; LOD: Limits of Determination; LOQ: Limits of Quantification