Exposure of laying hens to mycotoxins through naturally contaminated feed

The objective of the present study was to assess the degree of exposure of laying hens to mycotoxins through naturally contaminated feed and the hygienic quality of feeds. For this purpose, the natural mycoflora and the occurrence of aflatoxins and fumonisins were evaluated in 95 feed samples intended for laying hens collected from January to December 2010 at the Experimental Farm of the State University of Londrina, Northern Parana State, Brazil. Fusarium was the prevalent genus (99%), followed by Aspergillus (89%). Fusarium spp. were detected at a low contamination level (<103 to <104 colony forming units (cfu)/g) in 54% of the samples. Aspergillus spp. were detected in 73% of the samples at the same contamination range. The total mould and yeast count ranged from 5.0×102 to 8.7×105 cfu/g; in 60% of the samples the values exceeded 1.0×104 cfu/g, the maximum limit established to ensure good hygienic quality of the product. Aflatoxins and fumonisins were detected in 69.7 and 89.5% of the samples, with mea...