Abstract
The frequency of occurrence and four principal kinds of aflatoxin concentration in maize seeds grown in Burkina Faso was investigated. Ten (10) samples collected, were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with post-column derivatisation after immunoaffinity column cleanup. Eight strains of Aspergillus section Flavi were previously isolated from these samples and cultivated on “Aspergillus flavus and parasiticus agar (AFPA)” to ascertain if they belong to A. flavus or A. parasiticus species. The qualitative ability of aflatoxin production was also previously performed by fluorescence emission under ultra violet light at 365 nm after four (4) days of incubation at 30 °C on Coconut Agar Medium (CAM). Results showed that 70% of samples were contaminated by aflatoxins. The levels ranged from 0.93 to 58.94 µg/kg. Samples M1 and M10 had high concentrations, 58.94 µg/kg and 70.73 µg/kg; whereas M4 and M5 had low concentrations from 1.68 to 0.93 µg/kg, respectively. In these samples, four were contaminated with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), two with AFB1 and aflatoxin B2 (AFB2) and one (01) with AFB1 only. We notice that AFB1 was the most prevalent member of aflatoxins, and AFG2 was absent in all samples. Key words: Maize, Aspergillus, aflatoxins, HPLC, Burkina Faso.
Highlights
Cereals are a staple food for humans and animals
The present study included ten (10) samples of maize seeds grown in Burkina Faso
The results of the aflatoxin analysis showed that the majority of these are of unsatisfactory sanitary quality and have a fairly high average mold load predominantly dominated by genus Aspergillus
Summary
Cereals are a staple food for humans and animals. Maize is the most used product by over 98% of rural households (Bambara, 2021). The area devoted to maize cultivation in the country increased from 790,321 ha in 2010 to 1,019,181 ha in 2018 (GDSSS/MAHAD, 2020). Maize can be used for many purposes, such as animal feed, industrial uses, and is even the staple food in many developing countries. Maize is food crop that is contaminated with mycotoxins such as aflatoxins that are cancer-causing, immunosuppressive mycotoxins (Makhlouf, 2019). According to Bambara (2021), 40% of maize production is affected by aflatoxins in developing countries. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 as Group I human carcinogens (IARC, 2002). The species most notorious for aflatoxin production are Aspergillus flavus (produces only aflatoxins B) and Aspergillus parasiticus (produces both B and G aflatoxins) (Kachapulula et al, 2017)
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