FILAMENTOUS FUNGI AND MYCOTOXIN DETECTED IN COCONUT

Fifty-nine species and one variety belonging to 25 genera of fungi wer e isolated from 25 coconut samples on glucose-Czapek's (25 genera and 55 species + 1 variety) and dichloran-glycerol (8 genera and 32 specie s + 1 variety) agar media at 28-degrees-C. The common fungi on both me dia used were Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Penicillium chrysogenum an d Cladosporium cladosporioides. On glucose-Czapek's agar, A. flavus va r. columnaris, P. oxalicum, Alternaria alternata, Rhizopus stolonifer and Trichoderma hamatum were recorded as common fungi while A. sydowii and Eurotium chevalieri were isolated with high frequency only on dic hloranglycerol medium. Chromatographic analysis of the chloroform extr acts of the coconut samples revealed that 5 out of 25 samples tested w ere naturally contaminated with aflatoxin B1 (15- 25 mug/kg) and 3 sam ples contaminated with ochratoxin A (50-205 mug/kg).