Aflatoxin inactivation of undelinted cottonseed by ammoniation

Abstract The inactivation of aflatoxin in cottonseed products has been restricted principally to ammoniation of cottonseed meal. More recently, attention has been focused on the feasibility of ammoniating whole cottonseed as a feed for ruminants. Preliminary work is presented on treatment with gaseous ammonia of undelinted (fuzzy) cottonseed containing an average of 1,500 µg/kg total aflatoxins. These seed were treated with 4% anhydrous ammonia (w/w) for 30 min at temperatures ranging from 66 C to 82 C. The data obtained in this study indicate that inactivation of aflatoxins in undelinted whole cottonseed may be accomplished using processing conditions comparable to those proposed for cottonseed meal.