Abstract
A survey of the contamination of maize with aflatoxins, fumonisins and zearalenone was carried out in the Southeastern and Central Highland provinces in Vietnam. Four provinces were chosen for sampling maize: Dong Nai (22), Binh Phuoc (25), Dak Lak (30) and Dak Nong (20). Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), B2 (AFB2), G1 (AFG1), G2 (AFG2), fumonisin B1 (FB1), fumonisin B2 (FB2) and zearalenone (ZEA) were analysed by HPLC in 97 maize kernel samples. Fumonisins were the most common toxins found in all samples (67%), followed by aflatoxins (55.7%) and zearalenone (27.8%). The incidence of aflatoxin positive samples (61.7%) in the Southeastern provinces was higher than in the Central Highlands (50%), while fumonisins and zearalenone incidences were higher in the Central Highlands. The mean level of fumonisin B1 in samples from the Central Highlands provinces (1757 µg/kg) was significantly greater (p < 0.05) than in the Southeastern provinces (740 µg/kg). Importantly, the percentage of positive samples (about 70%) that had over 20 µg/kg (ppb) aflatoxin was very high. Moreover, many samples (53%) contained more than one mycotoxin and this result highlights the difficulty of diagnosing mycotoxicoses in the field and the need for ongoing research to reduce the occurrence of mycotoxins in Vietnamese maize.
Highlights
The significance of the effects of mycotoxins on animal production and human health has been known since the 1960s [1]
The results in the present study are in accordance with the occurrence of the toxins found in Southeast Asia, where fumonisins were the most commonly found mycotoxin, followed by aflatoxins
Trung et al [20] conducted a survey by collecting samples from North, Central and South Vietnam that showed 68% of tested samples were contaminated with Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), while the percentage of fumonisin B1 positive samples was only 32%
Summary
The significance of the effects of mycotoxins on animal production and human health has been known since the 1960s [1]. Mycotoxins are fungal metabolites which have low molecular weights that are not recognized by the body’s immune system and are insidious poisons [2]. Many mycotoxin-producing fungi are plant pathogens, leading to economic crop losses. These toxins can be formed in many stages of plant production, from growing to harvest, drying, and storage [2,3]. Among the many different mycotoxins, aflatoxins, fumonisins and zearalenone are well known owing to their occurrence and toxicities, especially in animals [4].
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