Getu, Emana (Professor)Bekele, Tilahun (Assistant professor)Fikere, Mulugeta2018-06-192023-11-092018-06-192023-11-092017-01http://10.90.10.223:4000/handle/123456789/1600Aflatoxins are naturally occurring toxic metabolites of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus fungi. The aim of this study was to assess the level of aflatoxins G2, G1, B2 and B1 in dairy cattle feed around Addis Ababa. For this purpose twelve nug cake, twelve wheat bran and six atela samples were randomly collected from Debrezeyt, Sululta and Debrebrhan for aflatoxin analysis by using high performance liquid chromatography with Immunoaffinity column clean up. The result indicated that, from the total 12 samples 7(58.3 %) of nug cake were contaminated with all aflatoxins for G2 from 16.396 to 83.173 ng/g , for G1: from 128.235 to 981.122ng/g, for B2: from 18.089 to 944.271ng/g , for B1: from 149 to 887ng/g and total aflatoxin from 450 to 2320.53ng/g. The mean level of aflatoxin G2, G1, B2, B1 and total aflatoxin level in nug cake samples were 34.58ng/g, 334.15ng/g, 223.89ng/g, 347.9ng/g and 691.08ng/g respectively. In 3( 25 % ) of wheat bran samples only G1,B2 and B1were detected with the range of G1: from 0 to 24.229ng/gm for B2: from 0 to 22.435ng/g , for B1: from 0 to 35.318 ng/g and total aflatoxin from 0 to 61.947ng/g . The mean level of aflatoxin G1, B2, B1 and total aflatoxin level in wheat bran were 18.768ng/g, 18.52ng/g, 21.55ng/g and 59.0572ng/g respectively. Level of aflatoxin in atela samples about 3(50%) of the samples were investigated below the limit of quantification and one sample was below the limit of detection while, in two samples were not detected. The mean level of aflatoxin G2, G1, B2, B1 and total aflatoxin in nug cake were exceeded the maximum limit set by food and agriculture organization(FAO)/world health organization (WHO) 20μg/kg and European Union (EU) 5μg/kg for dairy cattle feed. In wheat bran only B1and total aflatoxins were exceed the limit of food and drug authority and food and agriculture organization(FAO)/world health organization(WHO)20μg/kg and the level of G2, G1, B2, B1 were exceed the limit of European Union(EU) 5μg/kg. Aflatoxin contamination in all atela samples were below the limit. The result of knowledge, attitude and practice assessment in this study revealed that, awareness of mold growth and formation of mycotoxin is very low among dairy farmers and feed traders. From the experiment it can be concluded that nug cake feed was highly contaminated with all aflatoxins and wheat bran was less contaminated. Implying that feeding atela to dairy cattle is the safest, while nug cake is the most dangerous in terms aflatoxin contamination. Key words: Aflatoxin G2; G1; B2,;B1;Total aflatoxin, Diary feeds; Immunoaffinity cleanup.enAflatoxin G2; G1; B2,;B1,;Total aflatoxin; Diary feeds; Immunoaffinity cleanup.Thesis