THE FREQUENCY OF PATHOGENIC FUNGI GENERA IN POULTRY FEED

Feed contamination to fungi can lead to nutrient losses and detrimental effects on animal health and production. The aim of this study was to determine the mycoflora incidence in poultry feeds during two year period. A total of 230 samples of poultry feeds in 2007 and 235 samples in 2008 were examined for total fungi count and the frequency of pathogenic fungi genera. Total fungi count was 1-9 x 10(4)cfu g(-1) in the most of investigated poultry feed samples (38.26% and 45.53% in 2007 and 2008, respectively). In comparison of the average total fungi count in samples of poultry feed from two investigation years no statistically significant differences were established. The prevalent fungi genera were Fusarium (56.09 and 63.40%) and Aspergillus (54.35 and 73.62%), followed by Rhizopus (40 and 62.98%), Penicillium (30.87 and 48.09%), Mucor (30.04 and 31.49%) and the least frequently species were from genus Alternaria, 3.48% and 17.02% in 2007 and 2008, respectively.