Incidence of fumonisins, moniliformin and Fusarium species in poultry feed mixtures from Slovakia

A total of 50 samples of poultry feed mixtures of Slovak origin were analysed for fumonisin B1 and B2 (FB1, FB2) and moniliformin (MON) using SAX-clean up procedure being detected by high pressure liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) and diode array detection (HPLC-DAD), respectively. The samples were also simultaneously investigated for Fusarium species occurrence, and for the capability of Fusarium isolates recovered to produce FB1 and MON in vitro. FB1 was detected in 49 samples (98%) in concentrations ranging from 43 to 798 µg.kg-1, and FB2 in 42 samples (84%) in concentrations ranging from 26 to 362 µg.kg-1. MON was detected in 26 samples (52%) in concentrations that ranged from 42 to 1,214 µg.kg-1. Only two Fusarium populations were encountered, namely F. proliferatum and F. subglutinans, of which the former was the most dominant and frequent. All 86 F. proliferatum isolates tested for FB1-production ability proved to be producers of the toxin although none of them produced MON. On the contrary, MON production was observed in a half out of 16 F. subglutinans isolates tested, yet no FB1 production was detected in this case. Despite the limited number of samples investigated during this study, it is obvious that poultry feed mixtures may represent a risk from a toxicological point of view and should be regarded as a potential source of the Fusarium mycotoxins in central Europe. This is the first reported study dealing with fumonisin and moniliformin contamination of poultry feeds from Slovakia.