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Mycotoxins are toxic chemical compounds produced by some fungi as a defence system when they are threatened. Horses are highly exposed to mycotoxins due to the variety of feedstuffs included in their ration. Mycotoxicosis severity depends on duration of exposure, number of mycotoxins in presence, housing conditions and health status of the horses. Mycotoxicosis may lead to immunosuppression, reduction of the athletic performances, cancers, and sudden death. Horse stalls contain high quantity...
A new category of fats in mammalian cells discovered by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and colleagues may help explain how a harmful toxin called fumonisin causes disease in farm animals.
The discovery could open up a new research area for exploring ways to reduce the toxic effects of fumonisin, which is found in corn that has been infected with a fungus called Fusarium. Fumonisin is known to cause a host of diseases, such as equine leukoencephalomalacia, which is a...
The Irish equine industry Over many centuries, Ireland has become famous for its bloodstock. The country’s climate, soil and its peoples’ innate knowledge have given the Irish many advantages in the production of quality horses. These qualities continue to draw leading investors to our island, thus making the Irish bloodstock industry a major economic force. The equine industry in Ireland is broken into two sectors: the thoroughbred bloodstock...
A research survey of horse farms, under the supervision of Dr. Trevor Smith, is being conducting by Melissa Mortson, fourth year student in the B.Sc. Animal Biology program in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the University of Guelph.
The researchers are in the process of recruiting interested horse farms. Hay and concentrate samples will be taken from each farm, as well as a blood sample from one of the horses. The purpose of this study is to identify a potential...
Poisoning in horses is not a common occurrence, but when poisoning occurs, effects can be disastrous and far-reaching. Listing all toxic substances is impossible, as virtually everything on the planet can be toxic at sufficiently high dosages. What dose is safe and what dose is toxic varies with each toxin, each animal, and each situation. Factors that influence risk from a toxic substance include animal age, concurrent diseases, exposure to concurrent toxins or drugs, reproductive status, and...
Limiting values or safe concentrations of specific mycotoxins are, for the most part, unknown for the horse. A unique challenge is presented when attempting to use non-equine data to effectively define mycotoxin effects on horses, since the horse is comparable to the ruminant in that it is a forage-grazing animal but has a gastrointestinal tract more closely similar to a pig with the addition of a hindgut fermentation process. The nature of the horse also makes the equine quite different...
Pasture grasses, hay, grain, straw and stubble can all support the growth of various fungi. The fungi can exist as saprophytes, living on the outside of the plant and obtaining nutrients from the plant with no benefit to the plant, or exist as endophytes within the plant in a symbiotic relationship, providing benefits to the plant while obtaining nutrients from the plant. The saprophytes include the more common genera Aspergillus, Claviceps, Stachybotrys, Fusarium and...
The business of horse owning, breeding and racing is the most profitable in the animal production industry. Equine professionals have always been progressive, looking to science to improve horse performance and health.
Natural additives such as yeast cultures originally gained acceptance by improving performance when added to the diets of production animals. Alltech focused efforts early on to research the benefits of live yeast in equine diets. With its US headquarters in Central...