FILAMENTOUS FUNGI AND MYCOTOXIN DETECTED IN COCONUT

Fifty-nine species and one variety belonging to 25 genera of fungi were isolated from 25 coconut samples on glucose-Czapek's (25 genera and 55 species + 1 variety) and dichloran-glycerol (8 genera and 32 species + 1 variety) agar media at 28-degrees-C. The common fungi on both media used were Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Penicillium chrysogenum and Cladosporium cladosporioides. On glucose-Czapek's agar, A. flavus var. columnaris, P. oxalicum, Alternaria alternata, Rhizopus stolonifer and Trichoderma hamatum were recorded as common fungi while A. sydowii and Eurotium chevalieri were isolated with high frequency only on dichloranglycerol medium. Chromatographic analysis of the chloroform extracts of the coconut samples revealed that 5 out of 25 samples tested were naturally contaminated with aflatoxin B1 (15- 25 mug/kg) and 3 samples contaminated with ochratoxin A (50-205 mug/kg).