DETECTION OF AFLATOXINS PRODUCED BY ASPERGILLUS SP. ISOLATED FROM GRAINS

The present study was planned to assess the aflatoxins contamination by Aspergillus in grains of maize, rice, wheat and groundnut; some detoxification methods were also studied. From the grains fungus Aspergillus was isolated and identified based on morphological and microscopic features. 3 isolates out of 4 were probably identified as belonging to Aspergillus species and identified isolates were screened for aflatoxins production. Screening for aflatoxins production showed that two isolates, isolated from groundnut and maize, were found to produce aflatoxins as these produced intense yellow orange colour on selective media and blue fluorescent ring under UV light. These two isolates were selected for further analysis of aflatoxins by TLC and ELISA. The results showed that the fungi isolated from groundnut produced more quantity of aflatoxins as compared to fungi isolated from maize i.e. the fungi present in groundnut had greater potential for aflatoxins production. Detoxification of aflatoxins, by chemical (sodium bisulfate) and biological (bacteria B. subtilis) methods revealed that both the methods were effective against this aflatoxigenic fungus. The results of this study showed the contamination of aflatoxins in grain samples and gave further evidence of suitability of screening by microbiological method and detection of aflatoxins by TLC and ELISA, which were reliably low-cost approach to determine food and feed biosafety. Further investigations are required for detoxification of aflatoxins by testing health safe chemicals and biological agents. More and more cost-effective and less time consuming, methods should be developed that can give quantitative results accurately at faster rate. Key words: Aflatoxins, Biological, Mycotoxins, Quantitative, Detoxification