Mycotoxins and mycotoxigenic fungi in poultry feed for food-producing animals.

Moulds are capable of reducing the nutritional value of feedstuff as well as elaborating several mycotoxins. Mycotoxin-contaminated feed has adverse effects on animal health and productivity. Also, mycotoxins may be carried over into meat and eggs when poultry are fed with contaminated feed. In a point prevalence study feedstuff used for poultry nutrition in Argentina was analyzed for fungal flora, natural incidence of selected mycotoxins, and nutritional quality. Ten mould genera were recovered, six of them known to be mycotoxigenic. More than 28 species were determined. Fumonisins were detected in all the samples (median 1,750 ppb). Forty-four out of 49 samples (90%) were contaminated with DON (median 222 ppb) and OTA (median 5 ppb). Also, 44 out of 49 samples were contaminated with aflatoxins (median 2.685 ppb), 42 samples (86%) with ZEA (median 50 ppb), and 38 samples (78%) with T2-toxin (median 50 ppb). Ninety percent of the samples had at least one type of nutritional deficiency. This study indicates the need for continuous assessment of the mycological status of animal feed production, in order to feed animals for optimal performance ensuring food safety.

Mycoflora and natural incidence of selected mycotoxins in rabbit and Chinchilla feeds.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi that cause a toxic response when ingested by animals or man. Demand of natural fur, such as those from rabbit and chinchilla, produced under controlled conditions, has increased worldwide. The toxicogenic mycoflora contaminating feeds for these animals was enumerated and identified. Six of the major mycotoxins implicated in animal mycotoxicosis were detected and quantified. Moulds count ranged from <10 to 4.7 × 10(5) CFU g(-1); 14% of the samples exceeded the limit that determines hygienic feed quality. More than twenty species belonging to the five most important mycotoxigenic mould genera were recovered. Among the analyzed mycotoxins, aflatoxins were recovered in 100% of the examined samples, deoxynivalenol in 95%, fumonisins in 100%, ochratoxin A in 98%, T2 toxin in 98%, and zearalenone in 100%. Cooccurrence of mycotoxins was observed in 100% of the samples analyzed. Exposure to multiple mycotoxins was thus demonstrated for these animals.