How many mycotoxins should be analyzed in Indian Poultry Feeds and Raw Materials?

Dear Haladi, As per your study and conclusion analysis of DON, zearalenone and fumonisins in poultry raw materials and food is not required. But in our study we found that these raw materials are highly contaminated with zearalenone and fumonisins which surpassed the legal limits.

Dear Navale, testing as many mycotoxins as possible always helps to ascertain toxicity more precisely. But under field conditions, such analysis can be expensive and time consuming. A field miller has to make a quick decision whether to accept or reject raw materials very quickly and he can't analyze all mycotoxins. Scientifically, Aflatoxins, OTA and T-2 are the most toxic mycotoxins to poultry and particularly in Asia we need to focus on analyzing them. If you have resources, please do DON and fumonisins also. But zearalenone is not at all required as the concentration required to cause toxicity in poultry is very high. If you look at pigs, it is a different story. There you need to focus more on DON, fumonisins and zearalenone for testing. An informed and economical decisions need to be made when comes to mycotoxin analysis. I hope this helps. Regards Swamy

Dear Navale, I agree with you that very high levels Fumonisin and Zearalenone concentrations are required to induce toxicity in birds. However, the synergistic effect of these mycotoxins with other mycotoxins, if any, need to be explored.