Mycotoxins are known to have negative health and production effects on livestock and poultry animals. These impacts can range from acute to chronic diseases, as well as altered growth patterns, reduced production and reproductive efficiency, and increased susceptibility to other infectious diseases.<\/p>\n
The annual cost of mycotoxin mitigation has been estimated at $466 million USD, while production losses tied to mycotoxins approach $6 million USD annually (CAST, 2003).<\/p>\n
While mycotoxins can have a negative impact on feed intake, rate of gain, milk production and reproduction, other factors could also be impacting these production factors. Just because the feed may have mold, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s contaminated with mycotoxins. On the other hand, if you don\u2019t see mold in your feed that doesn\u2019t mean mycotoxins are not present.<\/p>\n
The most notorious feed ingredients for mycotoxin contamination are whole cottonseed, grain silage, corn and corn byproducts like distillers\u2019 grain. What\u2019s interesting about distiller byproducts is that the process that extracts the starch from the corn kernel does not remove the mycotoxins. This is because the mycotoxins are found on the kernel. In this situation, removal of 60 to 70 percent of the starch will concentrate the level of mycotoxins in the distillers\u2019 grains. The rule of thumb is that the mycotoxin content in distillers\u2019 grains will be concentrated three-times more than the corn when the starch is extracted. This makes testing feed ingredients and taking steps to manage mycotoxins even more important.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s recommended that nutritionists and producers test all new crop feedstuffs as they are harvested and arrive at the farm. In addition, many of the mycotoxin testing facilities are proactive in sharing insights into what they are seeing in terms of mycotoxin contamination during the harvest season.<\/p>\n
Some mycotoxins, such as aflatoxins (AF), deoxynivalenol (DON) and fumonisins (FUM) cause damage to intestinal epithelial tissue. This damage may reduce the absorption of nutrients including essential minerals which are required in increasing quantities during a mycotoxin challenge. Supplementation with Zn, Mn, Cu and Se is required to repair damage to cell membranes and to counteract the oxidative stress caused by mycotoxins. Overall, mycotoxins in feed increase the mineral requirement of animals, particularly those anti-oxidative minerals such as Zn, Mn and Se.<\/p>\n
If mycotoxins are detected in your feed ingredients, there are three potential approaches you can take:<\/p>\n
Option #1<\/strong> \u2014 Eliminate the contaminated feedstuff. This is the \u201cideal\u201d option. The problem is producers and nutritionists are often not in a situation where eliminating the feedstuff is an option and, very often, the producers and nutritionists cannot find clean feedstuff without any mycotoxin contamination.<\/p>\n