Occurrence of aflatoxin in Colocynthis citrullus L. (egusi) kernels in Southwestern Nigeria
Journal Title: IOSR Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology (IOSR-JESTFT) - Year 2019, Vol 13, Issue 1
Abstract
Egusi is an important soup condiment in many parts of Nigeria. It is infected with many storage fungi especially aflatoxigenic species of Aspergillus flavus which produces carcinogenic aflatoxins. However, information on AC in egusi is limited in Nigeria. Therefore, incidence of storage fungi, toxigenicity of A. flavus isolates and AC in Egusi kernels (EK) from southwestern Nigeria were investigated. One major Egusi market in each of the six southwestern states was purposively selected during the wet season (July-August). Traders in each market were listed and three traders were selected by simple random sampling. Egusi kernels (≈½kg, n=162) were purchased twice in two years from selected traders and taken to the laboratory for fungi isolation, identification and aflatoxin analysis. Aflatoxin concentration (µg kg-1 ) in EK samples and Aspergillus isolates (n=1003) toxigenicity were determined using standard analytical procedures and quantified using scanning densitometer. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at α0.05. Aspergillus (32.4±1.6%) was most predominant fungal species followed by Rhizopus spp (21.5±2.0%) in all states. Incidence of Aspergillus species was highest in Ekiti (62.1±6.5%) and lowest in Oyo (40.2±3.7%).Among Aspergillus species, A. flavus (51.1±2.4%) was most prevalent followed by A. tamarii (31.8±1.9%), while A. ochraceus (0.3±0.2%) was the least. Aflatoxin-B (6.9-109.5 µg kg-1 ) and aflatoxin-G (0.2-35.8 µg kg-1 ) were detected in six states. Toxigenic A. flavus (77.7±0.9%) isolates were significantly higher than atoxigenics (22.3±0.5%). Toxigenic Aspergillus was most prevalent postharvest fungi on Egusi kernels in southwestern Nigeria. Egusi kernels were highly contaminated with aflatoxin at alarming levels.
Authors and Affiliations
Obani F. T, Atehnkeng J. , Ikotun B, Bandyopadhyay R
Keywords
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- EP ID EP443099
- DOI 10.9790/2402-1301011926.
- Views 146
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