Mycotoxins in groundnuts, with special reference to aflatoxin

Abstract

In 1961 reports started to appear of heavy losses in turkey poults and ducklings during the previous year. In the United Kingdom, 100 000 birds were reported to have died in approximately 500 outbreaks of what was named Turkey X disease. Infected birds showed characteristic histological lesions in the liver, which were initially thought to be related to seneciosis in fowls (Siller and Ostler, 1961). The common factor in the UK outbreaks was a diet containing 10{\%} of certain consignments of Brazilian groundnut meal (Blount, 1961). During the same year a similar condition was reported in ducklings in Kenya and was traced to locally grown expeller-processed groundnut meal (Asplin and Carnaghan, 1961). Indian groundnut meal, making up 6{\%} of a diet, was linked to more deaths in the following year (Carnaghan and Sargeant, 1961). Also in 1961, a toxic factor was extracted with chloroform from the Brazilian meal (Allcroft et al., 1961) and was shown to be extremely toxic for young ducklings, producing lesions histologically identical to those in Turkey X disease (Asplin and Carnaghan, 1961). It was also shown to be free from plant alkaloids (Sargeant et al., 1961a). Toxicity testing of the Indian meal (Carnaghan and Sargeant, 1961) produced liver lesions identical to those produced by the Brazilian and East African toxic meals, though the toxicity of these samples was considerably less.