THE FREQUENCY OF PATHOGENIC FUNGI GENERA IN ANIMAL FEED

Fungal invasion of feed commodities and subsequent formation of mycotoxins can lead to nutrient losses and detrimental effects on animal health and production. Infections by fungi and mycotoxin production can develop at various stages of crop production: in the field, during harvesting and transportation or storage. Toxigenic fungal spores are present everywhere in soils, air and water. When conditions are favourable, they can germinate, grow and produce the toxin. The aim of this study was to assess the mycoflora incidence in animal feed (maize, ground maize, sunflower and soybean meal, finished mixture etc.) by microbiological analysis during two year period. A total of 142 animal feed samples in 2007 and 155 samples in 2008 were examined for total fungi count and the frequency ofpathogenic fungi genera. Total fungi count was 1-9 x 104 cfu g-1 in most of the investigated animal feed samples (66.90 and 74.19% in 2007 and 2008, respectively). In comparison of the average total fungi count in samples of animal feed from two investigation years no statistically significant differences were established. The most prevalent fungi genus was Fusarium (100 and 100%) followed by Aspergillus (73.94 and 87.10%), Rhizopus (64.09 and 83.87%), Penicillium (45.78 and 70.32%), Mucor (37.32 and 33.55%) while the least frequent species were from genus Alternaria, 4.93% and 16.13% in 2007 and 2008, respectively