FERMENTATION OF AFLATOXIN CONTAMINATED WHITE DENT MAIZE (Zea mays)

Abstract

White dent maize was sorted manually into apparently clean and visibly spoilt maize samples. The clean and spoilt maize samples had 11.8% and 18.6% moisture content, respectively. Part of the apparently clean maize sample was inoculated with aflatoxigenic spores of Aspergillusflavus. The maize samples were pulverized and fermented for “Ogi” production. During fermentation the concentration of aflatoxin B present in the apparently clean white dent maize slurry rose from 0.98 µgml-1 at day 0 to 1.05µgml-1 at day 1 while for visibly spoilt white dent maize slurry the concentration rose from 2.20 µgml-1 at day 0 to 2.55 µgml-1 at day 1 and the concentration increased in the inoculated maize sample from 5.88µgml-1 at day 0 to 6.16µgml-1 at day 1. The aflatoxin B levels remained stable in the various fermenting maize after day one till the end of the three days fermentation period. Fermentation was accompanied with decrease in pH of the slurry from 6.0 at day 0 to 4.0 at day 3 for apparently clean white dent maize slurry, 5.8 at day 0 to 4.0 at day 3 for visibly spoilt white dent maize slurry and 4.83 at day 0 to 3.00 at day 3 for inoculated white dent maize slurry. There was a corresponding increase in the titratable acidity from 0.2 at day 0 to1.1 at day 3, 0.4 at day 0 to 2.3 at day 3 and 0.4 at day 0 to 1.8 at day 3, respectively. This study shows the potential of consuming aflatoxin B through contaminated maize in “Ogi” production for human consumption.