what is the mycotoxin and how can you have my animals mycotoxins caused agricultural sector billions of dollars in economic losses each year according to the FAO around 50% of the world's crop harvest might be contaminated with mycotoxins which are known to reduce feed quality and impure animal health and performance I'm going to explain what mycotoxins are and how they get into animal feed and the potential consequences for farm animals let's start with the definition of mycotoxins toxins are poisons and the prefix michaels indicates that they come from microscopic fungi and molds so why do mycotoxin
exist we do not know why mycotoxins exists but one possible explanation is that they give the fungi that produced them a competitive advantage over other organisms how do mycotoxins get into feed stuff then while over 400 different mycotoxins metabolites have been identified the funda that produced them can be categorized into two groups phil fungi such as for cerium which typically produce mycotoxins in the field and pre harvest and we have storage fungi such as Aspergillus and Penicillium the typically occur after harvest and post-harvest though awareness of mycotoxins has risen in recent years they still present
a significant and sometimes overlooked challenge to the animal protein industry for two reasons mycotoxins are difficult to detect they are invisible to the naked eye tasteless and they can cause harm to animals even small amounts they are difficult to mitigate mycotoxins are chemically stable and temperature resistance so they readily withstand the normal feed manufacturing processes application of a fungicide is not an effective mitigation method either because it affects the fungi which are living organisms but it doesn't affect the toxin themselves the negative effects of micro toxins fall into two categories first we observe clinical effects
at high concentrations though in absolute term contamination level are measured in parts per billion that is the equivalent of a teaspoon of sugar pour into an Olympic sized swimming pool second we see more common complications at subclinical levels where the animal is exposed to lower concentrations of mycotoxins for a prolonged period of time often clinical symptoms are not observed though general performances or health issues can occur some of the most serious effects of toxicity in animals include immune suppression fertility reduction disruption of gas integrity decreased nutrient utilization loss of appetite and performance losses to learn
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