GRAIN CONTAMINATION BY MICROSCOPIC FUNGI IN UKRAINE
Introduction. Mycotoxicoses - common specific diseases of animals and poultry, the etiological factors of which are microscopic fungi and their metabolic products called mycotoxins.Particularly dangerous among them are Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium. They are characterized by high general toxicity, immunosuppressive effect and mutagenic properties.One of them is Fusarium fungi, which often found in the fields before harvest and are able to produce various mycotoxins: tryhotecens, fumonisins, zearalenone, moniliformin, fuzarii acid and others.Studies conducted by many scientists over the past decade indicate that Fusarium adapted not only to the climate temperature, they are widely spread both in northern and in southern regions due to their high adaptic solution.The goal of the work. To study the distribution of fungi in cereal feed, establish their identity, toxigenic characteristics and frequency of mycotoxins detection.Materials and methods. 165 samples of various types of feed grains (wheat, corn, barley, oats) were studied in 2015-2016 in the laboratory of mycotoxicology. Micromicytes species diversity and their toxicity properties were studied.Results of the study and discussion. Mycotoxicology study of 165 samples of feed grains was conducted. Among them Fusarium fungi was found in 23.5% of samples.Due to the Tetrachimena piryformis test it was detected that among 227 micromicytes cultures 140 were toxic. The most toxic strains were observed in Fusarium - 61%.Conclusions and prospects further research. It was detected that corn feed is often contaminated with micromicytes culture: Penicillium in 21.9%, Fusarium - 23.5, Aspergillus in 20.4% and others. Toxicological investigation confirm 140 strains were toxic regarding Tetrachimena pyriformis.In studying toxicity, the largest number of toxic strains were identified among Fusarium genus. All toxic strains of these fungi were producers fusariotoxins: T-2 toxin, fumonisins, zearalenone and vomitoxin.In future work, the most active producers of mycotoxins will be used in the production of mycotoxins standards.