Mycotoxins Are Eating Your Profits: Alltech Presents its Europe 2013 Harvest Survey
Published:February 4, 2014
Summary
Alltech recently conducted a survey of European feedstuffs from the 2013 harvest using their 37 + ™ Programme. In announcing the results, Alltech urges producers to protect their animals and their profits from the dangers of mycotoxins. The survey found that 100 percent of both wheat and corn samples analysed contained mycotoxins, and furthermore that the presence of just one mycotoxin in...
If this is happening in Europe, What is happening in Kenya? How much are the Kenyan farmers loosing?
There are no surveillance mechanism for our feedstuffs particularly for the trichothecenes.
please what happens in the absent of toxin binder in feed due to inconvenience or forgetfulness. I use mycofix (toxin binder) in preparation of feed for my poultry (broilers) project and it happened that it was not added during the formulation of feed. I am a bit skeptical about it since it is the first time am missing out this additive, and moreover my day old chicks are arriving this evening and a bit scared about the protective nature of the feed. I was thinking that before administering of feed, i will mix a small quantity of the additive to the feed. But the issue had to do with storage-ability and caking of the feed..in absence of it, will promote build-up of the toxins
It is true that Mycotoxins Are Eating the Profits of the poultry and animal producers in all over the world but especially in Africa and Asia.
I succeed with my research and professional team to control the Aflatoxins in 9000 Tons of Yellow corn from more than 120 ppb of Aflatoxins to be less than 8 ppb.
Moreover,we succeed to control the Aflatoxins in Cotton seed cake contaminated with high levels more than 480 ppb to be less than 20 ppb .
we are willing to work with others all over the world in this important and fatal problem.
Regards
Dr.Mohamed Salem
Mobile: 00201006639267
Information on the effect of naturally occurring mycotoxins in animals is limited, especially the impact of multiple toxin contamination on animals. Alltech has put in place a Global Mycotoxin Management team, supported by two programs (37+ and MIKO) to better understand and identify the underlying risks to animals fed with feedstuffs containing multiple mycotoxins. From analyzing over 3300 samples form around the world we found that most samples contained between 5 and 11 mycotoxins.
In a meta-analysis on the productive interactions of mycotoxins in broilers done by Andretta et al. (published in 2011 Poultry Science:90:1934-1940) they combined the information from 98 studies and estimated that the effect of mycotoxins in broiler was as follows: feed intake was reduced by 12% and body weight gain by 14% compared to a negative control group.
The problem is that the variation can be quite dramatic depending on which toxins are present and their levels. And it becomes difficult to make broad recommendations. It comes down to trying to determine your risk.
Mwangi, you are welcome to contact me through the Alltech website as I am a member of the Global Mycotoxin Management team and I can put you in touch with a local representative in Kenya.
Evelynn, this post is probably too late since your chicks would be 3-4 weeks old by now. Hopefully they are fine. I cant comment on the efficacy of the Mycofix, however toxin binders generally protect the animal from the mycotoxins only once it has been eaten. They cannot bind the toxins in the feed while in storage, only once the bird has eaten the feed and it has gone into solution the binder starts to attach to the toxins.In future to prevent molds form growing and producing toxins you can maybe use a organic acid like propionic acid. This will reduce the pH and prevent/reduce molds from growing while in storage. Other things that will help in the absence of a binder is increasing the protein level of the feed, increase the vitamin A/E levels, maybe using a enzyme to improve the digestibility. But I suspect that you would have the same problem with mixing these products in.
I did not have the time to read all the comments. maybe this has been mentioned. In my opinion many of the negative effects mentioned in the article is due to the reduced feeding value of the feed. Fungi also eat! That does however not exclude the possible toxic effects. Try and get rid of them or prevent them from polluting feeds long before feeding them to the animals.
Gerhard, you are right. Prof. Elizabet Santin from the Federal University of Parana in Brazil coined the phrase "low quality feed syndrome" as a way to explain this phenomenon of reduced nutrients as a result of mold growth. This is also why we see birds with suspected mycotoxicoses improve when diets are made more dense with regards to protein, vitamins and minerals. Feed companies that update their raw material matrixes and analyze their feed ingredients more regularly, are less likely to suufer form this syndrome.
