Knowledge, Attitude, and Management Practices of Stakeholders towards Fungal Invasion and Mycotoxin Contamination of Wheat and Maize in Ethiopia
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Background: Filamentous fungi cause deterioration in grain quality and release harmful mycotoxins.
Cereals are vulnerable to fungal invasion and mycotoxin contamination starting from the field to postharvest storage and processing. However, information is limited on the fungal invasion of cereals and
mycotoxin contamination in Ethiopia.
Objective: The study was aimed at determining the knowledge, attitude, and management practices of
respondents towards fungi and their mycotoxin contaminations.
Materials and Methods: A total of 438 participants were sampled from four top wheat and maize
producing Zones (Bale, West Arsi, East Shoa, and West Shoa) from Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia.
Descriptive analysis, mean ranking, and test of significances were used to analyze the data.
Results: Based on the results obtained, the overall mean score level of knowledge of respondents towards
fungal invasion and mycotoxin contamination was very low (1.81). The highest mean score level of
knowledge towards fungal invasion and mycotoxin contamination was 2.54 for respondents working as
agricultural experts and the minimum score (1.31) was obtained for respondents with elementary
educational background. A significant difference in mean knowledge level (P < 0.01) was observed on the
questions related to fungi and their mycotoxins among farmers, agricultural experts, merchants, teachers
and other participants. The overall mean attitude level of respondents was 4.16. The highest mean attitude
level (4.49) was obtained for teachers and the lowest mean attitude level (3.94) was obtained for respondents
with elementary education background. The overall mean practice level of respondents towards reducing
fungal infection and mycotoxin contamination was low (1.9). A comparison of mean practice levels base
on occupation type showed significant (P < 0.01) differences among the various occupation types.
Conclusion: The study revealed knowledge about fungi and mycotoxin contamination is generally very
low among farmers. This signals the need for providing training for farmers at all levels on toxin producing
fungi and the danger of their mycotoxins present to humans and animals
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