solation and Identification of Fungi from Spices and Medicinal Plants

This investigation was designed to throw light on the microbial status of some crude herbal materials. A total of 16 samples, representing different types of spices and medicinal plants were collected from common market in the Erbil city. Ten different fungal genera and 16 species were isolated and identified as Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus spp., Gliocladium sp., Hyalodendron diddeus, Memmoniella sp., Penicillium spp., Rhizopus spp., Syncephalastrum sp., Cladosporium lignicolum and Ulocladium botrytis. The total number of isolated fungi from the all sixteen selected samples was serially diluted and plated on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) medium was (203×103) cfu/g. samples. Aspergillus spp. and Penicillium spp. were more frequently detected, while Stachybotrys sp., Syncephalastrum racemocum, Uocladium botrytis, Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium lignicolum and Gliocladium catenulatum ere less frequently detected. Detection of mycotoxin on Dichloran Rose Bengal Chloramphincol agar (DRBC) for fungi isolated from spices and medicinal plant samples, A. flavus, A. Niger and A. ochraceous show positive results on the culture for mycotoxin production. Estimation of natural occurrence of Aflatoxin (AT) and Ochratoxin (OT) in some selected dried samples by using ELISA method, the high result of aflatoxin and ochratoxin show in Red tea (150.5, 387.3) ppb while the low result of aflatoxin and ochratoxin show in Garlic (1.4, 0) ppb respectively.