Assessment of aflatoxigenic and other fungi in millet and sesame from Plateau State, Nigeria.

Sixteen fonio millet and 17 sesame samples were analysed for incidence of moulds, especially aflatoxigenic species, in order to determine the safety of both crops to consumers, and to correlate aflatoxin levels in the crops with levels produced by toxigenic isolates on laboratory medium. Diverse moulds including and were isolated. was predominantly present in both crops (46-48%), and amongst the potentially aflatoxigenic species, recorded the highest incidence (68% in fonio millet; 86% in sesame kernels). All isolates produced B and G aflatoxins in culture while B aflatoxins were produced by only 39% and 20% of strains isolated from the fonio millet and sesame kernels, respectively. Aflatoxin concentrations in fonio millet correlated inversely ( = -0.55; = 0.02) with aflatoxin levels produced by toxigenic isolates on laboratory medium, but no correlation was observed in the case of the sesame samples. Both crops, especially sesame, may not be suitable substrates for aflatoxin biosynthesis. This is the first report on in sesame.