Mycotoxins – what are they and how to defend against them?

Modern breeding is, I think, primarily a struggle against time.

The profitability of production, for dairy cows, depends primarily on the quality and quantity of hay and corn silage harvested.

Every grower knows how important time is when we want to harvest the best possible material. We have to rush the timing of sowing, fertilizing, spraying… etc.

Unfortunately, the intensity of production and often monoculture in the case of corn for silage (in many farms we have a situation where corn is grown for several years in the same place) makes the risk of fungal (mold) development much greater, and thus exposure of animals to mycotoxins is difficult to avoid.

Mycotoxins are toxins produced by certain species of fungi, mycotoxin symptoms

We can divide the mycotoxins that occur on farms into two main groups: storage and those arising in the field. The first group includes mycotoxins from fungi of the genus Penicillium (Patulin, Ochratoxin and others) and Aspergillus (Aflatoxin, Ochratoxin and others), while the second group includes fungi of the genus Fusarium (Deoxynivalenol, Zearalenone, T2, Fumonisin).

Mycotoxins in feedstuffs

MytoHow difficult a topic this is I would add that there are more than 400 types of all mycotoxins, and less than half are described and classified. If we add to this the fact that toxins bind to each other and form larger structures, we can imagine what a multitude of problems arise when feeding poor quality feed.

The toxic effects of mycotoxins primarily involve weakening the animal’s immune system.

Rather, its role in the intensive animal body is understood by all and needs no additional commentary. However, how to recognize whether an animal becomes ill due to the intake of feed contaminated with mycotoxins, or perhaps due to the mismatch between the ration and the intensity of production?

Of course, the simplest and, contrary to appearances, cheapest method, although not cheap at all in the initial stage, is to test feed for the presence of mycotoxins.

Depending on the laboratory and method of testing, the cost ranges from a few hundred to just over a thousand zlotys per sample. Another way to determine whether or not a mycotoxin problem affects our herd is to observe it. Infections with some mycotoxins produce very characteristic symptoms on the herd.

If excessively prolonged oestrus is observed in cows, or when, after antibiotic administration and the end of the withdrawal period, the antibiotic is still present in the milk as well as the occurrence of several diseases at once in cows, we can presume that we have mycotoxin contamination. If this is compounded by an elevated number of somatic cells in the milk, a mycotoxin-binding preparation should be used.

Mycotoxin treatment.

Our company’s answer to the mycotoxin problem is a product proven on many farms – MycoKill. Its action is to bind mycotoxins in the digestive tract of animals.

MycoKill owes its effectiveness to the use of a substance that binds ONLY mycotoxins. The recommended dosage for prophylactic use is 100-150 g/day. For acute symptoms of infection, dosage for 2-3 weeks is recommended at 200 to 300 g/day.