MYCOTOXIGENIC FUNGI CONTAMINATING CORN AND SORGHUM GRAINS IN SAUDI ARABIA

The natural occurrence of fungal contamination was evaluated in different sample of corn (zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) grains. Mycological survey was carried out of four cereals crop yellow and white corn and yellow and red sorghum grains collected from produced and imported grains to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A total of 80 samples of corn and sorghum grains (20 samples per crop) were analyzed by direct plating method on PDA and focusing on the mycotoxigenic fungi Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium and Alternaria genera for ability of these genera to produce mycotoxin. The most frequent isolated fungi from yellow and white corn were Aspergillus spp. and Fusarium spp. and Alternaria spp. were the lowest frequent. The most frequent isolated fungi from yellow and red sorghum were Aspergillus spp. and Fusarium spp. and Alternaria spp. were the lowest frequent. Significant difference was observed between the frequency of fungal isolates from different sample of corn and sorghum. The predominant fungal genera recorded at high frequency were Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium and Alternaria. These results indicate possible health hazards for humans and animals consumption of such contaminated food grain by mytoxigenic fungi.