Occurrence of aflatoxins in mahua (Madhuca indica Gmel.) seeds: Synergistic effect of plant extracts on inhibition of Aspergillus flavus growth and aflatoxin production

Occurrence of aflatoxin in Madhuca indica Gmel. seeds was determined by competitive ELISA. Eighty percent of mahua seed samples were found to be contaminated with aflatoxin. Total aflatoxin content ranged from 115.35 to 400.54 ppb whereas the concentration of AFB1 was in the range of 86.43 to 382.45 ppb. Mahua oil was extracted by cold press expeller and analysed for contamination of aflatoxin in both the oil and cake samples. Total aflatoxin and aflatoxin B1 were 220.66 and 201.57 ppb in oil as compared to that in cake samples where it was 87.55 and 74.35 ppb, respectively. Various individual and combined plant extracts were evaluated for their efficacy against growth of Aspergillus flavus and aflatoxin production in vitro. Combination of botanicals were found to be more effective in controlling fungal growth and aflatoxin production than individual extracts. Results of the present study suggests that synergistic effect of plant extracts can be used for control of fungal growth and aflatoxin production. These natural plant products may successfully replace synthetic chemicals and provide an alternative method to protect mahua as well as other agricultural commodities of nutritional significance from toxigenic fungi such as A. flavus and aflatoxin production.