Analysis to Ascertain the Determination for Aflatoxin Contamination of Milk and Feeds from Gurage Zone, Ethiopia

Background and Objective: Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites which are naturally occurring contaminants of food and feeds. This toxigenic reduces animal productivity and highly carcinogenic. The level of contamination varies among different locations of Ethiopia. Hence, determination of the level of contamination at Gurage zone will pave the way to mitigate the impact of aflatoxin. The present study was initiated to examine the prevalence and quantify the amount of Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in raw cow's milk and Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in dairy feed samples. Materials and Methods: About ten milk and feed samples from dairy farmers were collected. Analysis for AFM1 and AFB1 were conducted by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Statistical analysis done by using mean value and standard deviation. Results: It showed that the presence of AFM1 in milk samples and contamination level ranged between 0.02 and 0.31 g LG 1 . Overall, out of total 10 feed samples collected, only four (36%) contained total AFB1, AFB1, AFG1 and AFG2 at a level of undetectable. Furthermore, 4 (68%) milk samples exceeded 0.05 g LG 1 . About 60% of feed samples was contaminated with total AFB1, AFB1, AFG1 and AFG2 ranging between 4.22 and 10.54 g kgG 1 . This increase in aflatoxin caused by dairy farmers used mixed feed daily, which commonly included the mixture of wheat bran and Noug (Guizotia abyssinica) cake and cotton seed cake. Conclusion: Therefore, this suggest that risk mitigation should focus on Noug (Guizotia abyssinica) and cotton seed cake to effectively reduce aflatoxin contamination. Risk assessment of aflatoxins in large number of samples of milk and feed; noug will be the future line of study.