Mycotoxins.info Blog

2012-03-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

Based on the farm reportof W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute from February 2012 which refers to the paper of Zhang and Caupert, 2012, it looks like we don’t have to worryabout DDGS being a primary source of mycotoxins under normal growth conditions.

But whatis the real truth about DDGS? Is it really so safe to feed DDGS to your animals?Read more about this topic in this month’s blog post!

Are mycotoxins a concern in feeding DDGS to livestock?

The production of co-products in the form of dried distillers’ grain and soluble (DDGS) or wet distillers’ grains (WDG) has rapidly increased over the last few years. The topic of DDGS inclusion into diets of livestock animals has been extensively investigated in terms of feeding value of DDGS (crude nutrient concentrations, energy and nutrient digestibility values) as it can highly impact animal production. DDGS is used as a source of protein, energy and available phosphorous to animal diets and replaces a portion of the grain, protein source(s) and supplemental phosphorous. Although ethanol plants routinely sample and test all loads of grain coming into the plants and follow proper quality control guidelines (minimum specification, nutrient analysis, mycotoxins screening, etc) to allow diets be adjusted as needed and avoid risking animal performance, the incidence of mycotoxins is still an unavoidable fact. Crops are inevitably contaminated with mycotoxins and therefore, they occur in commodities entering the supply chain including grains used in ethanol production. During the corn-to-ethanol production process, approximately two-thirds of the grain, mainly starch, is fermented by yeast to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, as mycotoxins are not destroyed during the process, the remaining co-product DDGS potentially contains a higher concentration of any mycotoxin that was present in the grain prior to fermentation. Several reports indicate that animals are likely to be fed higher levels of mycotoxins, which are concentrated up to three times in DDGS compared to grain. This poses a risk to animal health and consequently human health due to metabolites of mycotoxins that can be transferred.

It is well-known that mycotoxins cause a variety of adverse health effects in livestock including gastrointestinal problems; kidney and liver damage; immune suppression; skin problems and blood abnormalities such as abnormal liver enzymes (AST and ALT), low hematocrit and red blood cells levels; fertility problems and an overall reduction in production. In corn, several mycotoxins can potentially be found such as aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins, T-2 toxins, and zearalenone occurring at preharvest and being present in the grain at harvest. They can be present in isolated parts of a grain or grain co-product container or truck, in very small quantities. For this reason, monitoring the mycotoxins content of DDGS prior to its inclusion in animal diets is crucial to avoid exposure of the animals to the negative effects of mycotoxins.

A review about the occurrence of mycotoxins in 455 DDGS samples analyzed from 2005 to 2010 demonstrated the high prevalence of mycotoxins, especially zearalenone, deoxynivalenol and fumonisins.

Only 2 % of the analyzed DDGS showed contamination levels below the LOQ (limit of quantification)
7 % of the samples had the presence of one mycotoxin only and the majority (91 % of the samples) was contaminated with two or more mycotoxins

In the period between January 2010 and June 2011, a total of 100 DDGS samples mainly collected in Asia 56%, followed by America 42% and only 2% of the samples coming from Europe were analyzed for the most important mycotoxins in terms of agriculture and animal production – aflatoxins, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins and ochratoxin A.

7% of tested samples presented contamination levels higher than 20 ppb Afla, considered the transition to medium risk levels for poultry and pigs (for dairy, 20 ppb is already considered high risk level, due to the carryover of this mycotoxin into the milk, in form of its metabolite Aflatoxin M1)
As for ZON, 83% of samples were contaminated with 50 ppb (a borderline to medium risk level in poultry and swine) and higher
90% were contaminated with DON levels higher than 150 ppb, which represents a medium risk level for swine
The majority of the contaminated samples were within the contamination range from 2001 to 5000 ppb DON
14% of FUM contaminated samples presented levels of 1500 ppb and higher
OTA contamination levels were rather low

References available upon request!

Major classes	Fungi species	Mycotoxins
Claviceps	C. purpurea C. fusiformis C. paspali C. africana	Ergot alkaloids: clavines, lysergic acid, lysergic acid amids, ergopeptines
Neotyphodium	N. coenophialum	Endophyte toxins: ergot alkaloids, lolines, peramine
Neotyphodium	N. lolli	Endophyte toxins: lolitrems, peramine, ergovaline

Tretment	CCM1	Pulmonary lesions
Fumonisin B1	3	↗
P. multocida	3	↗
P. multocida + Fumonisin B1	13	↗↗

	Main cob	Second cob
Deoxynivalenol (μg/kg)	Not detected	1.442
Zearalenone (μg/kg)	7	162
Mold (cfu/g)¹	160.000	400.000
Yeast (cfu/g)¹	300.000	1.000.000
Dry matter %	45.7	25.8
Crude protein (g/kg)²	65	63
Digestibility %	81	72

Mycotoxins.info Blog

Are mycotoxins a concern in feeding DDGS to livestock?

Prevention of ergot alkaloid production on the field

We have interviewed mycologist Assoc.

Prof., Dipl. Ing, Roman Labuda PhD.

Mycotoxins: serious contributors to mastitis incidence

Mycotoxins and carbon emissions

The poisonous ergot alkaloids and endophyte toxins

When mycotoxins do not act alone

Fumonisins as a potential harmful toxin for pigs immune system and a predisposing factor do diseases

Mycotoxins can be a threat to aquaculture

Infection of secondary and third corn cobs - An influencing factor on feed hygiene?

Influences on feed hygiene

Facial Eczema (Pithomycotoxicosis)

Impact of T-2 toxin on the embryonic development and transfer to eggs

Microbial strategies in controlling aflatoxins

Fungal abortions: is this really happening

Mycotic abortions

Synergistic effects between mycotoxins in pigs and poultry

Possible reasons for black tongue in poultry

References

Climate change and mycotoxin occurence