Thin-layer Chromatography of Plugs from Agar Cultures as an Aid for Identification of Moulds in Routine Mycological Examination of Animal Feeds

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Abstract
One hundred and twelve strains of nine species of Penicillium and two species of Fusarium were examined employing thin layer chromatography (TLC) of plugs stamped out of cultures on agar media. The chromatograms of reference strains and strains isolated from feeds with the same cultural and morphological characteristics, were compared. Characteristic chromatograms of intracellular metabolites were demonstrated for the various penicillia but not for the Fusarium spp. However, variations were demonstrated concerning the differences in the chromatograms between strains of the same species, between cultures of the same strains, and between parallels of the same cultures. These variations reduced the reproducibility of the method, and often necessitated incubation periods of two weeks and repeated examinations of the various strains before species identification could be established on the basis of the chromatograms. It was concluded, however, that reducing the variability of the results in this way made the method too labour intensive and time-consuming for general application in the routine mycological examination of feed.