Burden of Aflatoxin in Poultry Feeds in Selected Chicken Rearing Villages of Bishoftu-ethiopia

Background: Aflatoxins are major contaminants of feed used in poultry industry that negatively affect animal and human health. In Ethiopia, previous studies on aflatoxins mainly considered cattle feed and milk, but scarce information exists for poultry feeds. Method: The aim of this study was to determine the burden of aflatoxin in poultry feed in bishoftu.Cross sectional study was conducted from December, 2018 to May, 2019and 33 compound poultry feed samples were randomly collected from chicken rearing villages of Bishoftuand analyzed for G2, G1, B2 , B1 and total aflatoxins using HPLC. Results: : The result indicated thatfrom a total of 33 samples 31(94%) samples were contaminated with aflatoxin. The mean level of aflatoxin G2, G1, B2, B1 and total aflatoxinswere 18.00 µg/g, 88.5499 µg/g, 13.50µg/g, 70.11µg/g and 190.18µg/g respectively. This study curtained the level of aflatoxinin 25 (72.75%) samples for AFT and 22 (66.67%) samples for AFB1 were above the limit of FDA regulatory levels of 20µg/g for poultry feed. Conclusion: The study showed the high contamination of aflatoxins in poultry feed. The study warrants the need for preventive strategies of aflatoxin contamination including implementation of regulatory legislation in poultry feeds in Bishoftu.