Nov 21, 2015 - African Journal of Microbiology Research. Full Length Research .... African countries, attention was drawn by food scientists of the international ...... fatal neurological disease in horses and equines with the consumption of ...
Vol. 9(46), pp. 2257-2269, 21 November, 2015 DOI: 10.5897/AJMR2015. 7676 Article Number: 775F03C56302 ISSN 1996-0808 Copyright © 2015 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/AJMR
African Journal of Microbiology Research
Full Length Research Paper
Natural occurrence of Fusarium species and fumonisins in stored cassava chips B. Onana1, G. Essono1*, M. Nyegue1, R. Tchikoua1, Z. Ambang2 and M. Ayodele3 1
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Yaoundé I, P. O. Box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroun. Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Yaoundé I, P. O. Box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroun. 3 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
2
Received 20 July 2015; Accepted 25 September, 2015
Cassava chips are transformed products obtained following the fermentation and drying of cassava fresh roots. Once produced, chips can be stored for more than 180 days in conditions conducive for the development of toxigenic moulds. In this study, the incidence of Fusarium spp. is assessed from a set of 72 home-stored samples of cassava chips collected from farmers, during a 2-month monitoring survey period. Results from this survey enabled the recovery of 298 isolates of Fusarium spp. The Fusarium taxa detected included: Fusarium chlamydosporum, Fusarium equiseti, Fusarium verticillioides, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium pallidoroseum and Fusarium solani. F. oxysporum was associated with the highest level of isolation frequency (25%), whereas F. solani isolated was scanty (5%). Their level of recovery was increasingly important as the moisture content of samples increased and/or the product was stored for longer periods. Specific associations were observed to exist between the most frequently isolated Fusarium spp. The level of fumonisins further assessed showed that only 5 samples hosted this mycotoxin at concentration levels ranging between 0.22 and 1.7 mg/kg. Among the parameters used to assess its incidence, only storage duration showed significant (P
