Evaluation of aflatoxin B1 contamination levels in the oil seed samples

MANJUNATHA A.S; JEEVITHA D.S; MOHANA D.C; MANJUNATH K

Volume : VII, Issue : VII, July - 2017

Evaluation of aflatoxin B1 contamination levels in the oil seed samples

Manjunatha A. S, Jeevitha D. S, Mohana D. C, Manjunath K

Abstract :

Aflatoxins are the toxic secondary metabolites produced by Aspergillus species in food and feed commodities, when stored under warm and damp conditions. Aflatoxin B₁(AFB₁), a prototype of the aflatoxins is widely recognized as the most hepato–carcinogenic compound and classified as group I human carcinogen by the international agency for research on cancer(IARC). Contamination of oil seeds with the AFB₁pose serious threat to the food and feed industry. The present investigation efforts on the percentage incidence of seed borne mycoflora and assessment of AFB₁content in selected nine oil seed samples by the qualitative and quantitative methods, which involves the principle of chromatography methods like thin layer chromatography(TLC) and high–performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). The percentage incidence of infection was observed to be higher for the groundnut seed sample showing the mean percentage of infection to be about 48.57% than with all the seed samples. The genus Aspergillus was most predominant, with A, niger topping the list followed by Rhizopus spp. and the least was Trichoderma. Among 55 isolates of Aspergillus flavus,42 were found to be aflatoxigenic strains by determinative method of TLC and amount of aflatoxin B₁ in oil seeds is estimated to be in the range of 29–35µg/ml by quantitative analysis of HPLC. The results indicate that the selected oil seeds are prone to fungal contamination with AFB₁production when stored under ambient conditions. Therefore, proper storage and regular inspection of its quality should be practiced ensuring the safety of animals including human beings.