Aflatoxins Levels in Concentrate Feeds Collected from Specialized Dairy Farms and Local Markets in Selected Urban Centers of Eastern Ethiopia

Aflatoxin constitutes a significant concern for food and feed safety, posing detrimental health risks to both animals and humans. This study aimed to examine the prevalence and concentration of aflatoxins in maize feed, total mixed ration, and wheat bran collected from specialized dairy farms and local markets in three major urban centers in eastern Ethiopia. A total of 180 feed samples were collected from September 2021 to January 2022 in Chiro town, Dire Dawa city, and Harar city. These samples underwent thorough extraction and immunoaffinity clean-up before aflatoxin analysis using HPLC/FLD. The results revealed that AFB₁, AFB₂, AFG₁, AFG₂, and TAF contamination was detected in 72.2%, 66.1%, 71.1%, 68.7%, and 82.8% of the feed samples, respectively. The corresponding mean levels of each aflatoxin were 28.15 ± 3.50, 3.3 ± 0.40, 19.87 ± 1.87, 2.7 ± 0.32, and 54.01 ± 4.72 µg/kg, respectively. The occurrence and levels of aflatoxin varied across different study sites and feed types. Notably, feeds from Dire Dawa city exhibited significantly higher mean levels of AFB₁ (43.98 ± 5.3 µg/kg), AFB₂ (5.69 ± 0.6 µg/kg), AFG₁ (32.25 ± 2.7 µg/kg), and AFG₂ (5.01 ± 0.5 µg/kg) than feeds from other urban centers did. Additionally, a significantly higher occurrence of AFB₁ (29.4%) and AFG₁ (28.3%) was detected in feed from Dire Dawa city. Similarly, the total mixed ration (TMR) displayed significantly higher levels of AFB₁ (50.67 ± 5.2 µg/kg), AFB₂ (4.74 ± 0.6 µg/kg), AFG₁ (32.87 ± 2.6 µg/kg), and AFG₂ (3.86 ± 0.5 µg/kg) compared to the other feed types. Moreover, a significantly higher occurrence of AFB₁ (30.7%) and AFG₁ (28.7%) was detected in the TMR. Furthermore, a moderate correlation was observed between the count of aflatoxigenic <i>Aspergillus</i> species and the levels of TAF in the feed samples. Overall, this study underscores the widespread presence of aflatoxin contamination in dairy feeds in eastern Ethiopia, highlighting the urgent need for stringent monitoring and mitigation measures to ensure food and feed safety, as well as public health.