Mycotoxins: Diagnostics & Management International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru 502324, India

Fungi that produce mycotoxins	Some of the agricultural commodities contaminated with mycotoxins

Aflatoxins

• Carcinogenic, teratogenic, immunosuppressive
• Synergistic with hepatitis B and C viruses
• In India more than 20 million people are carriers
• Affect health of human beings, cattle, sheep, poultry and ducks

• Secondary metabolites of fungi
• Present in many foods and feeds
• Small molecules
• Difficult to estimate

IMPORTANT MYCOTOXINS

• Aflatoxin,ochratoxin A and fumonisins

WHY SHOULD WE STUDY THEM

• Ubiquitous in many foods,especially consumable food products in developing countries
• Three ICRISAT mandate crops are contaminated: groundnut, sorghum and millet
• Many commodities used along with our mandate crops in foods and feeds are contaminated.

TWO IMPORTANT ISSUES

DIAGNOSIS

• Cost-effective tools (immuno-logical, ELISA-based)
• Adaptable to developing countries

MANAGEMENT

• Contamination can occur at preharvest, during harvest and postharvest storage
• Experiments conducted to understant the factors contributing to contamination
• Important for international trade

Effects of aflatoxin B1 on Chicken  Source: Dr. MVLN Raju, Project Directorate on Poultry (ICAR), Rajendranagar 500 030

Chicken Liver Source: Dr. MVLN Raju, Project Directorate on Poultry (ICAR), Rajendranagar 500 030

DFID FUNDING

• Attracted funding from 1998 to 2001 for developing diagnostic tools (SCRI collaboration)
• Funding for 2000 -02 for the development of management strategies (Collaborators: University of Reading, University of Belfast, ANGRAU and STAAD)

FUTURE

• Risk assessment, synergistic effects with other agents (eg. viral infections, including AIDS)
• Impact of co-occurrence of different toxins
• Marketing of diagnostic kits

AFB1 Contamination in chillies AFM1 contamination in milk