Determination of fungal contamination of poultry feed and its ingredients in broiler farms in Torbat-Heydarieh, Khorasan Razavi province, Iran

Unhygienic poultry feedstuffs can lead to nutrient losses and detrimental effect on poultry production and public health.
This study was to investigate the fungal contamination of poultry feed and its ingredients in broiler farms in Torbat Heydarieh, Khorasan Razavi province, Iran.
A total of 240 poultry feed samples comprising three different feeds were collected and examined using dilution plating technique. Preparations of all samples from successive dilutions were prepared; and then 0.1 ml of each dilution was cultured on the surface of Potato Dextrose Agar supplemented with Chloramphenicol and was incubated at 27 °C for 7 days. Fungal colony counting was performed based on CFU/gr. The fungi were identified by gross and microscopic features. Statistical analysis of the data were done using SPSS software version 21.
In examined samples, fungal contamination was detected in 205 samples (85/14 %) out of 240 samples. The corn (32/5%) was most contaminated feed, followed by soybean (29/16%) and finished feed (23/75%). The predominant fungi isolated were Fusarium spp. (41/3 %), Penicillium spp. (37/9%), Cladosporium spp. (21.3 %), Paecilomyces spp. (17.1%), Aspergillus fumigatus (13/3 %), Aspergillus niger (12.9%) and Yeast spp. (12.9 %). Frequency of toxin -forming fungi was significantly higher than the non- toxin -forming fungi (P The findings of this research showed the high prevalence of fungal contamination as well as high frequency of toxin -forming fungi. Therefore, the feed raw materials are important vehicles for introduction of fungal organisms into poultry feed and fungal growth reduces the nutritional value of feeds. It should be considered to plan a program in order to control, limit and delete of the fungi from feeds.