Seasonal Diversity and Occurrence of Filamentous Fungi in Smallholder Dairy Cattle Feeds and Feedstuffs in South Africa.

ABSTRACT: This study investigated 65 (35 in summer and 30 in winter) smallholder dairy cattle feeds from Free State and Limpopo provinces in South Africa from 2018 to 2019 for fungal contamination and assessed the impacts of seasonal variation on fungal contamination levels, isolation frequency, and diversity. Samples were examined for fungal contamination using macro- and microscopic approaches, and their identities were confirmed by molecular means. A total of 217 fungal isolates from 14 genera, including Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium, were recovered from feeds from both seasons. The most prevalent fungal species recovered were A. fumigatus and P. crustosum. Mycological analyses showed that 97% of samples were contaminated with one or more fungal isolates, with the summer fungal mean leve

SUBMITTER: Adelusi OA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9696519 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature