An investigation of fungal contamination on the surface of medicinal herbs in China.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The dried parts of medicinal herbs are susceptible to the infection of fungi during pre- or post-harvest procedure. This study aimed to investigate the presence of fungi and their metabolites mycotoxins on the surface of medicinal herbs collected from China.

Methods

Forty-five retail samples of 15 different medicinal herbs were collected from 3 different regions in China. Then the potential fungi were immediately washed off from the surface of each sample with 0.1% Tween-20 followed by incubation of the rinse on petri-dish with potato dextrose agar containing chloramphenicol at 28 °C. The obtained fungi were isolated as single colonies and then characterized by morphology and molecular identification using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing with extracte

SUBMITTER: Zheng RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5209813 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature