OCCURRENCE OF DEOXYNIVALENOL (DON) TOXIN IN CEREALS AND CEREAL PRODUCTS AND DETECTION BY BIOASSAY IN BASRAH CITY – IRAQ

The aim of this study was to show the occurrence of Deoxynivalenol toxin which is produced naturally contaminated in different cereals and their products. The samples were collected from markets in Basrah city in Iraq. We used microorganisms as a biological tests to detect ( DON ) toxin in these cereals and their products. DON toxin was detected by thin layer chromatography (TLC). The results showed that 7 out of 76 samples of cereals and their products (9.21 %) contained DON toxin. The positive samples were 5 of 18 wheat samples (27.7% ) and 2 of corn from 18 samples ( 11.11% ) DON toxin was not found in all other samples of cereals that were tested including barely , corn ears and other cereal products such as flour , bread and toasted corn. Using microcrograms as abioassay for the detection of DON toxin showed that Bacillus subtilis was more sensitive towards DON toxin compared with E. coli and saccharomyces cerevisiae in all concentration of DON toxin . The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for Bacillus subtilis was 5 ug/ Disk.