Title: Identification and quantification of aflatoxins and aflatoxicol from poultry feed and their recovery in poultry litter
Abstract: Aflatoxins (AF) are toxic fungal secondary metabolites and are known mycotoxins pathological to animals and humans. Poultry litter is frequently used as a food supplement for ruminants, and when poultry feed contains AF, the litter becomes contaminated as well, thus having an effect on livestock health. This study identified and quantified AF (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2) from poultry feed and their recovery, together with their metabolites (AFM1, AFM2, AFP1, and aflatoxicol) in litter. An experiment with 25 Hy-Line W-36 hens, in their second production stage, 121 wk old, was carried out. Hens were distributed in 3 groups placed in individual cages and 1 ration of 250 g of feed was given to each hen daily. Nine hens of the control group were fed with clean feed, without AFB1; the other 2 experimental groups, with 8 hens each, were fed with 2 AFB1 concentrations: 30 and 500 µg·kg−1. The feed was replaced and weighed daily throughout a 7-d period to register the amount of feed consumed by the hens. Litter from each hen was collected, weighed, and dried individually. The chemical analysis of 40 g of each one of the 200 feed and 200 litter samples was chemically extracted and concentrated with immunoaffinity columns for total AF. To quantify AF, calibration curves for each AF were done by HPLC. Feed samples of the 3 groups presented significant difference with AFB2 and AFG2, whereas in litter samples, there were significant differences for AFG2 in the 500 µg·kg−1 group. Poultry litter had traces of AFM1, AFM2, AFP1, and AFL with no significant differences among treatments. Aflatoxin B1 prevalence in litter samples can cause damages in livestock because this mycotoxin reduces the digestibility of ruminant feed up to 67%.