Mycotoxins in poultry feed and feed ingredients in Nigeria.

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary fungal metabolites that can negatively affect animal productivity when ingested through feed. In order to assess mycotoxin contamination of poultry feed and feed ingredients vis-a-vis source tracking of feed contamination in Nigeria, 102 samples of feed (n = 30) and feed ingredients (n = 72) were collected from in-house mills of poultry farms across 12 states of Nigeria and analyzed for multiple mycotoxins using LC/MS-MS. One hundred and forty microbial metabolites were detected in the feed and feed ingredients. The most frequent mycotoxin in the feed was fumonisin B1, occurring in 97% of the samples at mean concentration of 1014 µg kg-1. AFB1 occurred in 83% of the feed samples at mean concentration of 74 µg kg-1 and in all feed ingredients except fish meal and other cereals (millet and rice). Feed samples analyzed in this study were contaminated with at least four mycotoxins: aflatoxins and fumonisin co-occurring in 80% of the samples. Peanut cake and maize contributed the most to the levels of aflatoxin and fumonisin, respectively, in the feed. Consequently, there is a need to explore other cereal- and protein-based ingredients for compounding feeds in order to reduce the risk associated with high mycotoxin (e.g. aflatoxin) intake in poultry.

Methanolic soluble fractions of lingzhi or reishi medicinal mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum (higher Basidiomycetes) extract inhibit neuraminidase activity in Newcastle disease virus (LaSota).

The antineuraminidase activity of different organic soluble fractions of Ganoderma lucidum extract was investigated using inhibition of hemagglutination and elution of chicken erythrocytes by Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Fractions of methanol, ethylacetate, and normal butanol (n-butanol) of the G. lucidum were tested against neuraminidase producing NDV as antigen. Different dilutions of the organic soluble fractions inhibited elution of 1% red blood cells by neuraminidase of NDV While the methanolic and n-butanol extracts inhibited neuraminidase activity even at a dilution of 1:16 and that of ethylacetate fraction inhibited even at 1:32 respectively. This finding indicates that G. lucidum has some antineuraminidase activity against NDV and may be exploited in the management of NDV infection.