Comparison of aflatoxin and fumonisin levels in maize grown in Turkey and imported from the USA

Maize is a very important dietary component in animal feeding. The aim of this study was to determine the total aflatoxin (B1, B2, G1, and G2) and fumonisin (B1, B2, B3) levels in maize samples obtained from different regions of Turkey (n = 19) and from imported material from USA (n = 7). Aflatoxin and fumonisin levels were analyzed by ELISA. The aflatoxin levels ranged from 0.01 to 32.30 μg/kg in maize obtained from Turkey (mean = 10.94) and from 0.09 to 1.50 μg/kg in imported maize (mean = 0.78). Fumonisin levels ranged from 0.80 to 356.8 mg/kg in maize from Turkey (mean = 88.24) and from 4 to 263 mg/kg in imported maize (mean = 74.2). The results on fumonisin have shown that in samples from Turkey and the USA, respectively, the proportion of samples containing the toxin at the levels which may lead to some toxic effects for poultry is 0.15 and 0.14. The corresponding proportions for ruminants, particularly for young ruminants, were 0.31 and 0.14.