Mycological Survey of Chicken Feed and Some Feed Ingredients in Turkey

Abstract

Level of mold contamination and mycoflora were determined for 144 mixed feed and feed ingredients, including corn, sunflower cake, soja cake, meat and bone meal, and fish meal. Four samples were found to be free of mold. Among the feed samples examined, the mold count has been found to be low (10² to 10³ colonies/g) for fish meal, high (10⁴ to 10⁵ colonies/g) for meat-bone meal and sunflower cake, and extremely high (more than 10⁵ colonies/g) for soja cake, corn and mixed feed. The predominant flora in the feed samples consisted of Penicillium, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Mucor and Eurotium, respectively. The most frequently encountered species was found to be Penicillium aurantiogriseum, followed by Aspergillus flavus.