Algoclay-based decontaminant can help fight mycotoxins
As piglets face many challenges during early life, the risk of mycotoxin transmission should be considered in contributing to development of disease later in life. Studies show that algoclay decontaminant can significantly lower the transfer of ZEN and DON from sows to piglets.
BY MARGRIET FABER, PRODUCT SPECIALIST FOR FEED AT OLMIX M
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ycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by fungi and are synthesised either before harvest (trichothecenes, fumonisins and zearalenone) mainly by Fusarium, or after harvest (aflatoxins
and ochratoxins), mainly by Aspergillum and Penicillium. Fusarium is the most prevalent fungus globally, producing a variety of mycotoxins in the field. The most well-known my- cotoxins produced by Fusarium are deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEN). Contamination of feed commodities with mycotoxins is one of the most important negative factors in animal feed quality. In many countries regulations or recommendations on safe levels of mycotoxins have been established. For example, in Europe, recommended maximum levels for DON and ZEN in swine feed are set at 900 ppb and 100 ppb, respectively. For poultry the recommendation is set for DON at 5,000 ppb. In research, many studies have been done with levels of myco- toxins far above the recommended safe levels, to get insight in the acute effects of mycotoxins. However, in practice, acute
Figure 1 - Effect of the dietary treatments on ZEN levels (ng/ml) in sow serum after 26 days of lactation.
Low ZEN High ZEN High ZEN + MT.X+
1.11c -33% 0.74b 0.43a
toxicity occurs occasionally, and chronic dietary exposure plays the main role in economic losses, especially when young animals are exposed to those mycotoxins. Therefore, recent studies focus on the impact of low to moderate level of DON and ZEN on sow’s and piglets.
Importance of Fusarium mycotoxins in feed
Olmix has developed a partnership with a French public labo- ratory, Labocea. This lab performs contaminant analyses with specific expertise on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry allowing the detection of more than 45 myco- toxins per tested sample. The Olmix-Labocea database is composed of about 15,000 feed ingredient samples, collected worldwide from 2013 to 2021. From the database, Olmix is able to show that the major mycotoxins worldwide remain DON, ZEN, fumonisins (FUM) and aflatoxins (AFB1), depend- ing on the region. Besides, corn and corn derived feedstuffs are the major source of those mycotoxins. The co-occurrence of DON+ZEN is commonly found in the Olmix-Labocea data- base as well as in research. One study concluded that from the infinity of mycotoxin mixtures that may be found, the combination of DON+ZEN as well as AFB1+FUM, AFB1+OTA, and FUM+ZEN were most frequently observed. Synergies on the co-occurrence of DON+ZEN have been reported. This im- plies the individual toxicity of mycotoxins is exacerbated in the presence of one another. In field conditions it is common to find corn-based diets contaminated with both ZEN and DON simultaneously.
Mycotoxin impact on animals It is now well established that exposure to, and absorption of, mycotoxins impair animal performances including decreased growth rate and poor feed efficiency. Besides, mycotoxins are predisposing factors of many diseases as they mainly impair digestive and immune function. Scientific studies mostly focus on exposure to single, high mycotoxin concentrations, for a short period of time to ena- ble significant effects under experimental conditions. Though, under practical conditions the presence of mycotox- ins is mostly at lower levels. Recent studies have shown the impact of levels below EU-guidelines to have deleterious ef- fects on production efficiency in poultry and swine. Besides mycotoxins having a negative impact on animal health and performance, there is also a risk of transmission to
▶ MYCOTOXINS | NOVEMBER 2021
PHOTO: COUNTRYPIXEL –
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