Mycotoxins in livestock production

Hi Dr. Cravens

Can we relate mycotoxicosis to enteric colibacillosis problem?if yes what particular toxins is it?

Hi Dr. Cravens

Yes indeed it address my questions about Mycotoxins, thank you.

Can calibrin - A or Z prevent or control the detrimental effect cause by enteric colibacillosis (Neonatal scouring)?

ok for dairy herds what the most important kind of mycotoxins and how can i selecting the most effcient antitoxine to add in my dairy herd rations

Hi Ricky,

Calibrin products are specialized enterosorbents and provide broad based control of mycotoxins. To the extent that mycotoxins are involved in the clinical cases of colibacillosis; yes they will reduce the damage caused by the mycotoxins and improve the clinical situation.

i asked about the anti mycotoxin products how can i say yes for that products and no for the other if u know tell me

The poultry industry in Pakistan is run on commercial basis for meat and eggs production. The farmers associated with the business go for mycotoxin analysis whenever it is prescribed by the veterinarian. Facilities are available at various public and private sectors institutions, like universities, veterinary research institute, poultry research institutes and private labs. The feeding strategies for small and large ruminants production usually lack commercial/mixed feeds utilization and the animals are supported on grazing, stall feeding of fodders and use of feed ingredients like oil-seed cakes (cotton, sunflower, mustard, maize), and wheat barn. These feed ingredients are usually stored for longer periods are are exposed to mycotoxins contamination. No practice of mycotoxin analysis has in place as the contamination will decrease productivity, immunity and fertility of animals while the farmers only get alerted in case of animals mortality. This is because of small and large ruminants production on subsistence level, without considering the commercial scope. Little new investment or innovation has been in practice in such production system and the animals genetic potential and management support are at minimum level. We must not dream of mycotoxin monitoring until the production system is converted from conventional to commercial level. To boost up the process, we have organized the International Workshop on Dairy Science Park http://www.aup.edu.pk/dairy-science-park.php, to which are concerned are invited.

This article was discussed by Prof. Dr M Subhan Qurshi in our class yesterdy. The article is very informative but there is one question that who we would know or quantify that level of mycotoxin in feed stuff that are responsible for MIP and CMIP and what is that standard level for large ruminants

Dear Dr. Khan,

You ask a very good question. The most important point to remember relative to MIP is that it specific to each operation. This is because it is management’s choice to intervene or in this case implement a mycotoxin control program in the diet. There are limited good scientific published studies defining specific mycotoxins or mycotoxin levels associated with clinical disease in beef cattle. There are increasing numbers of reports and papers relative to mycotoxicosis in lactating dairy cattle. Amlan has some research where we have demonstrated improvement in several clinical parameters in dairy cattle when Calibrin Z was used even when the measured mycotoxins were very low. We have shown reduction in clinical mastitis, reduction in foot problems, reduction in abortions, reduction in SCC and improvement in milk production when Calibrin Z was used n a large field study in Mexico. (Contact ashraf.elsis@oildri.com for more details).
Typically people think of Aflatoxin as a concern from the production perspective – lower milk production, immunosuppression, human safety (AFL changing to M1 in milk) – while Zearalenone is more concern due to its estrogenic effects – abortion, repeat breeders, abnormal estrus cycles. There are limited data on the other typical mycotoxins with the exception of Ergonovine where there are a number of published paper discussing ergotism in cattle (http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/212203.htm ).
Can you provide guidance on what level of mycotoxins you see in typical rations and what clinical signs you feel are caused by mycotoxicosis in your dairies or cattle herds?

Thank you for the question

As this topic was already discused in our last class lecture by Prof. Dr. M.S.Qureshi. we got alot of knowledge about mycotoxins in our class. AS i read this article my knowledge more furnished. There's a question in my mind that what's the economical detection of mycotoxins in feedstuffs?/

This question is commonly asked because there really is no simple way to answered it. Sampling of feedstuffs is difficult and expensive - your results will only be as good as the laboratories capability to reliably measure a spectrum of toxins from any given sample. Sample selection is critical as there are many things that need to be considered such as what materials to sample, how much to sample and how uniform the sampling procedure is. Assuming both of those issues are taken care of, you still need to intrepid the results. As with all testing results, a negative test does not mean there are no toxins present, it merely means there were no toxins found. Even when mycotoxins are found it is often difficult to say if they are of economic concern.
Therefore, it is my personal opinion that we need to look to the animal to tell us if there are problems. There are often clinical signs that suggest mycotoxicosis and when you combine clinical signs with measured mycotoxin levels then you should implement a control program. It is also common to implement a control program when the performance of the herd or flock is less than you expect given the other health and nutrition programs that are in place. Control programs include good animal husbandry practices and good feed storage, processing and delivery and including a high quality mycotoxin binder that has more than in vitro binding data to support its use.
Thank you for your question,

Very Good Article about mycotoxins in livestock production and followup discussions are more interesting & enlightening !

Thanks.

Yeah of course mycotoxin cannot completely be degarded by fermentation process.
I have one question to be answered by the forum! What are the naturally occuring toxin binders?.... How do they act to bind the toxin and at what ratio should be mixed with the feed of animals?

I think we can remove mycotoxin by some bacteria! it called Bioremidation!

The question of Hafiz: What are the naturally occuring toxin binders?.... is really interesting and probably important.
(1) Most of the mycotoxin binders are naturally occuring molecules/crystals. E.g. zeolite, glucomannans etc.
(2) Some of the feedingstuffs, e.g. straw or hay also have mycotoxin binding capacity.

Yeast cell walls are good.