Isolation and molecular identification of fungal contamination of corn and soybean diets of poultry in Birjand area

Fungal growth on poultry feed decreases their nutritional value and constitutes health hazard. To produce healthy food for consumers, recognizing and controlling the contamination of poultry feed is necessary. A total of 212 poultry feed samples including two different feeds were collected and by using dilution plating technique, successive dilutions were prepared and each of dilutions was cultured on solid fungal media cultures. Different fungal species such as Penicillium sp., P.aurantiogriseum, P.chrysogenum, Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium proliferatum were isolated from poultry feed of Birjand area of south Khorasan province and then purified and identified based on morphological and molecular characteristics. DNA extraction were performed by modified Chelex 100 method and Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method using amplification of  internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region used for molecular identification of fungal taxa. Rhizopus isolates identified based on morphological features. The highest and lowest fungal colonies were Penicillium(0.617±1.16) and Fusarium (0.075±0.417) receptively. Based on this study, controlling the contamination of poultry feed is recommended.