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Online ISSN : 2349-8080 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorinchiefijcrbp@gmail.com |
In animal production in Mali, food appears to be the major constraint. In fact, mycotoxin contamination of animal feed is common and widely spread in West Africa. Due to their ubiquity, mycotoxin producing moulds are capable of reducing the nutritional value of animal feed by elaborating several mycotoxins. Animal feed contaminated with mycotoxins has adverse effects on animal health and productivity. Also, mycotoxins may be carried over into meat and milk when animals are fed with contaminated feed. Samples of feed used for animal nutrition in Urban and Peri-urban Zones of Bamako were randomly collected and analyzed for fungal flora and natural incidence of mycotoxins. Ten mould genera were recovered, six of them known to be mycotoxigenic. More than 11 species were determined. Fumonisins, deoxynivalenol and zearalenone were detected in all the samples, while Aflatoxins were not detected in samples from Massala. Thirty-six out of 36 samples were contaminated with zearalenone, 34 out of 36 were contaminated with Fumonisins and 26 out of 36 were contaminated with deoxynivalenol. Also, 7 out of 36 samples were contaminated with aflatoxins. This study indicates the need for continuous assessment of the mycological status of animal feed production, in order to ensure food safety.
