Residualidad del ptaquilósido en la leche procedente de granjas bovinas en tres cantones de la provincia Bolívar, Ecuador

In different agricultural regions of the world, particularly in Latin America, a toxic fern invasion of the gender Pteridium, refering to the norsesquiterpeno ptaquiloside, has been reported. They adversely affect animal husbandry, presenting a potential risk to humans due to the residuals of this toxic component in the plant, in meat and milk. The aim of this study was to determine the ptaquiloside toxic residuality in bovine milk from three cantons of the Bolivar province, Ecuador, by high resolution liquid chromatography. Milk samples were collected from farms invaded by the ferns Pteridium arachnoideum (Kaulf.) Maxon located at different altitudes. The results showed the presence of ptaquioside residual levels in the 89.29% of the samples analyzed, with maximum concentrations obtained in Chimbo (2641.13 μg/ml), in San Miguel de Bolivar (2219.67 μg/ml) and in Echeandia (2130.12 μg/mL). Considering that this is the cause of producing toxic gastric cancer in humans, it was estimated that the consumers of fresh milk in the canton Chimbo could be consuming a ptaquiloside mean concentration of 894.13 mg/0.5 l/day of fresh milk. From these results, the high risk to humans health of having gastric cancer can be inferred, due to the repeated consumption of milk with toxic residuals (ptaquiloside), emphasizing the rural sectors exposed.