ORIGINAL Determination of Deoxynivalenol in Poultry Feed by Three Gas Chromatographic Detection Techniques Z. H. Shar • G. A. Sumbal • S. T. H. Sherazi • M. I. Bhanger • S. M. Nizamani Received: 27 May 2013 / Revised: 29 August 2013 / Accepted: 7 October 2013 / Published online: 18 October 2013 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 Abstract Three different gas chromatographic detection techniques were applied for the determination of deoxyni- valenol (DON) present in poultry feed samples. Extraction and cleanup procedures were kept the same for GC–FID, GC–ECD and GC–MS methods. Although all three GC methods provided good and comparable results, but more attention was focused on GC–FID due to its lower cost and easy availability in many laboratories. Therefore, a short 15 m DB-1 short column was introduced for the determi- nation of DON in poultry feed to reduce the time of analysis and initial cost of column. An inter-laboratory study for GC–FID was performed in two laboratories using four naturally DONS-contaminated feed samples and one spiked with standard. The relative standard deviations for repeat- ability (RSDr) and relative standard deviations for repro- ducibility (RSD R ) of naturally contaminated feed were in the range 5–23 and 11–24 %, respectively. The Horwitz Ratio (HORRAT) was less than 1.0 in each sample. From the spiking test, recovery, RSDr, RSD R and value of HORRAT were 93, 5, 11 and 0.6 %, respectively. For GC– FID method, limit of quantification was found to be 6 lg kg -1 . Thus, GC–FID method using 15 m DB-1 cap- illary column is sensitive and validated analytical method for the determination of DON for poultry feed. Keywords GC–FID  GC–MS  GC–ECD  Deoxynivalenol  Poultry feeds Introduction Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi which often contaminate the number of crops and affect the quality and product yield [1]. Deoxynivalenol (DON) is also known as vomitoxin and its chemical name is 3a,7a,15-trihy- droxy-12,13-epoxytrichothec-9-en-8-one as shown in follow- ing structure. Cereal grains such as wheat, corn, rye, rice, barley, maize and sorghum could be polluted with DON [2]. Feed contamination originates from the poor quality moldy grains diverted to the production of poultry feed [3]. Feed contami- nated with DON causes various toxicological effects such as diarrhea, feed refusal, decreased body weight gain, vomiting, necrosis, hematological disorders, and impaired resistance to infection, reduced egg production and hatchability [4–6]. Therefore, presence of such toxin in feed could cause heavy economical loss to poultry farmers. Due to its toxicity, several countries have regulated mycotoxins in feed at maximum tol- erable levels by standard and quality control authorities [7]. Structure of Deoxynivalenol Z. H. Shar Dr. M.A. Kazi Institute of Chemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan G. A. Sumbal  S. T. H. Sherazi (&)  S. M. Nizamani National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan e-mail: tufail.sherazi@yahoo.com M. I. Bhanger H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan 123 Chromatographia (2014) 77:337–346 DOI 10.1007/s10337-013-2587-3