MYCOFLORA AND NATURALLY-OCCURRING MYCOTOXINS IN POULTRY FEEDS IN ARGENTINA

The purpose of this work was to determine the mycoflora and mycotoxins natural incidence in poultry feeds from 2 factories in Rio Cuarto, Co rdoba. One hundred and thirty samples were taken from May/1996 to May/ 1997. The most dominant species isolated of poultry feed samples belon ged to the genera Aspergillus spp 85% and Fusarium spp 70%. From Asper gillus genus eleven species were identified and A. flavus was the most frequent. Nine species were identified from the Fusarium genus and th e predominant was F. moniliforme. Penicillium ranked third in the numb er of isolated cases. From this genus twelve species were collected of which P. brevicompactum (15%), P. restrictum (14%) and P. purpurogenu m (12%) were the most common. The most significant mycotoxin from poul try feeds was aflatoxin B-1 (AFB(1)) found in 48% of the samples, with levels ranging from 10 to 123 ng/g. For zearalenone (ZEA) the levels were 327 to 5,850 ng/g and DON was not detected from the samples. Due to the fact that in Argentina there is little information about this t opic, these data on poultry feeds in our region would be of worldwide interest.