Presence of the toxigenic fungi Aspergillus spp. and Fusarium spp. in Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae) collected from dairy farms

The objective of the study was to identify the presence of toxigenic fungi Aspergillus spp. and Fusarium spp. in domestic flies collected from dairy farms. We selected 10 dairy farms distributed in the central valley of the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico. The flies were trapped using entomological traps with an olfactory attractant in 7 sites of the farm (silo-cutting surface, feed store, milking parlor, 3 feeders, and the rearing room). The fungi were cultivated in Sabouraud agar through direct sowing by serial dilutions to obtain the isolates, and a taxonomical identification was carried out under the microscope. The aflatoxins and zearalenone production capacity of the pure isolates were quantified using the ELISA test. The flies were present in all of the capture sites (45.3 flies, 567 mg, trap per day). We obtained 50 isolates of Aspergillus spp. genus, 12 of which produced aflatoxins (327 & PLUSMN; 143 & mu;g/kg), whereas from 56 of the Fusarium spp. isolates, 10 produced large quantities of zearalenone (3,132 & PLUSMN; 665 & mu;g/kg). These results suggest that can eventually contaminate grains and forage that are part of the daily cattle diet.

Automated summary

The objective of this study was to determine the presence of toxigenic fungi Aspergillus spp. and Fusarium spp. in domestic flies from dairy farms. Flies were collected from 10 dairy farms in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The fungi were cultured and identified, and the production capacity of aflatoxins and zearalenone was quantified. The results showed that the flies were present in all capture sites and that some isolates of Aspergillus spp. and Fusarium spp. produced aflatoxins and zearalenone, respectively.