Effects of drying strategies, altitude and habitat on determination of aflatoxin-B1 levels in eight Artemisia species

Aflatoxins are known to be ubiquitous contaminants of food all over the developing countries of the world. Aflatoxin B-1 is the chief toxin of the majority of medicinal plants. The study was carried out with an aim to detect and check the effects of different drying methods, altitude and habitat on the level of aflatoxins B-1 in eight selected species of Artemisia. Determination and quantification of AFB1 in the samples was carried out using AFB1 Elab science ELISA Kit (Catalog No: E-TO-E01696T, USA); assay was repeated three times for each treatment. To know the significance of values ANOVA Tuky's HSD post hoc test was used. Each species showed significant differences of AFB1 in each treatment at p<0.05. The evaluation of Artemisia species against different drying strategies suggested that COD is more efficient treatment for plant drying with lowest value (6.66 +/- 0.33 ng/kg) and higher value (20 +/- 0.57 ng/kg) of AFB1 at F= 154.2, Df= 16, p<0.05 as compare to CSD with lowest value (11.66 +/- 0.33 ng/kg) and higher value (26.66 +/- 0.88 ng/kg) of AFB1 at F= 88.44, Df= 16, p<0.05 and UCSD with lowest value (21.33 +/- 0.88 ng/kg) and higher value (41 +/- 0.57 ng/kg) of AFB1 at F= 71.88, Df= 16, p<0.05. However none of the value exceeds maximum approved limit of 5 mg/kg or 5000 ng/kg for AFB1. The AFB1 level showed consistency with altitude recorded and habitat of the collected medicinal plants. This study provides details about the variation of AFB1 with different drying conditions, altitude and habitat recorded.