4. Mycotoxin occurrence

Binder et al. [11] found low concentrations of Deoxynivalenol, T-2 toxin and Zearalenone as major contaminants in European (temperate areas) feed samples while AFs, DON, FUM and ZON tended to be dominant in Asia and Pacific (tropical areas) significantly. Elzupir et al. [25] found a total of 64.29% animal feed (130.63 μg/kg) and 87.50% manufactured animal rations (54.41–579.87 μg/kg) followed by 69.32% groundnut samples (4.07–79.85 μg/kg) contaminated with AFs in Khartoum State of Sudan. Summer was found to be the most favorable for AFs growth (78.95% samples) followed by autumn (66.67% samples) and winter season (43.37% samples). AFB1 was found the most common contaminant followed by AFG1, AFB2 and AFG2. Shareef [26] found AFs to be most prevalent mycotoxins group (91.1%) with average concentration of 179.1 μg/kg followed by ochratoxins (127 μg/kg) during a two-year survey (2005–2007) on different poultry feed samples in Pakistan. Anjum et al. [27] found AFB2 (10.80 2.16 to 39.20 3.67 μg/kg) in layer and broiler starter rations from ten different commercial feed mills in Punjab, Pakistan. Among them, 40% of samples were contained AFB2 at levels above 20 μg/kg (maximum tolerable levels for poultry). Bokhari [29] found 26.1% samples (seeds, oilseeds, spices, milk and milk products) contaminated with AFs principally poultry feed, cereal grains and oil seeds with AFB1 found as the most frequent contaminant especially in corn grains.

Luttfullah and Hussain [29] found maximum incidence rate of AFs in walnuts with shell (40%), walnuts without shell (70%) and in peanuts with shell (40%) during a survey in Khyber Pakhtun and northern areas of Pakistan. Lutfullah and Arshad [30] found highest AFs incidence rate in corn (40%), sorghum (30%) and rice (25%) from different retail shops and local markets of different location in Pakistan. In Pakistan, A. flavus contamination occurs at the highest incidence rate, being responsible for the production of AFB1 in the corn in Swat valley [31].

Borutova et al. [32] found a positive correlation between AFB1 and AFB2 prevalence on different feedstuffs i.e. corn, wheat, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, dried distiller grains, etc. in Asian-Oceania region in 2010 and concluded that the occurrence of single mycotoxins in any of the feedstuffs is rare. Mardani et al. [33] did not find via High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) any of the AFs at detectable levels in food samples from Kaskinen in Iran except for one sample that contained AFB1 (0.64 μg/kg). Basaran and Ozcan (2009) concluded AFB1 to be the most abundant in concentration (0.2–36.81 μg/kg) followed by four samples containing AFG1 (0.6–20.2 μg/kg) among 217 samples of hazelnuts, pistachio nuts and peanuts in the Turkey. About 87.09% of total samples were very low in AFB1.
