BULLETIN

VOL. 8 NO. 4

MYCOTOXINS
Editorial
Mycotoxins form real obstacles in
realizing full genetic potential of poultry
inspite of the great technological
advances in the last millennium. Vetcare
Update focuses on the subtle effects of
mycotoxins like immunosuppression,
which is difficult to perceive under field
THE ROAD BLOCKS
conditions.
TO EFFICIENT
Bharat Tandon POULTRY PRODUCTION

ost of the research focused on poultry

M production in the earlier part of the

century was scattered around
determining Vitamin, Mineral, Amino acid
requirements for different ages and breeds.
Later, the discovery of antibiotics and
incorporation of vaccination programmes in
routine managemental practices reduced the
mortality pattern, pushing forward the birds
performance. Further coccidiosis was under
limelight throughout. Research continued to
fine-tune various feeding and managemental
practices to optimize the production potential.
Today as a result of all these efforts, poultry grow
faster and require less feed per unit of gain (egg mycotoxins and feed to poor performance and
or meat) compared to birds that were raised a health of animals, tremendous progress has been
decade ago. Though these technological made in identifying and understanding the
advances have greatly enhanced bird mechanism of action of these fungal toxins.
performance, mycotoxins form real obstacles in Mycotoxicoses is associated with chronic low-
realizing the full genetic potential of poultry. level intake of mycotoxins. The most important
mycotoxins in the following order of their relative
Since the early 1960s, when scientists first linked importance are:

u Aflatoxin (Hepatotoxin)
u Ochratoxin (Nephrotoxin)
u Tricothecenes
(Dermatotoxin)
u Zearlenone (Estrogen)
u Deoxynivalenol
Though mycotoxins research has
made tremendous progress, there
is still the possibility of yet
unknown mycotoxins:
Fumonisins, Oosporins, CAP and
so on. The list continues.
Whatever may be the type of
toxins, the fact lies that most
common symptom observed is
growth suppression, poor feed
Aflatoxin concentrations in tropical
countries:
Aflatoxin (ppm)
Maize 153
Rice 6 Synergistic effects of various mycotoxins have been studied in
Soyabean Meal 14
Copra Meal 67
Synergistic interaction between Ocharatoxin and T-2 toxin
T2 toxin
0 ppm 3 ppm
Ochratoxin
_0.06
0 ppm 2.05+ _0.06
2.08+
_0.04
2 ppm 2.18+ _0.05
2.51+
Raju, 1998
conversion, suppressed immunity etc. And the severity depends
on susceptibility and environmental factors. Ruminant animals
are generally more tolerant, whereas non-ruminant species like
swine are most sensitive; poultry comes somewhere in between.
Temperature between 28-30C, high moisture and humidity, in
general, favor mould growth. Moulds play sleeper role, i.e. a
dormant spore form to wait for desirable conditions. However,
each mould species produce mycotoxins when it is under stress
from dry condition, cold temperature etc.
Mycotoxin production and their role in biochemistry are quite
complex. Moulds can grow without producing mycotoxins, or
one species of mould can produce several different mycotoxins.
Conversely, several different moulds can produce the same
mycotoxin.
Yet another alarming feature of mycotoxins is their appearance
in combination to exert a greater degree of damage to health and
productivity in comparison to their individual effects.
recent times but exact correlation demands further clarification.
This is very important when we are analyzing the feed for
mycotoxins. Analyzing for any single mycotoxin may give an
erroneous interpretation. For example, aflatoxin even at low
levels, so called safe levels, can be potentiated by presence of
other toxins. Tricothecenes are not routinely looked for and are
not detected by conventional procedures. But Fusaric Acid is
known as a potential booster of T2 toxins in field cases. So the
present research should focus more on synergistic effects of
mycotoxins.
Losses due to severe mycotoxin induced mortality and growth
suppression can be quantified. However, subtle effects such as
Immune Suppression and Reproductive dysfunction are
difficult to recognize and evaluate. Under field conditions, the
financial impact of these effects is poorly perceived or often
ignored. All levels of mycotoxins pose potential risk; even at
very low levels immunity is impaired entailing an increased
susceptibility to infections. The immune system is the first
target to be influenced by mycotoxins. Immune suppression can
be evaluated in animals ingesting mycotoxins by different ways.
One of the simplest methods is to look for vaccination titers,
which is proved to be low even with low-level intake of
mycotoxins. Lymphocyte proliferation assay is one of the
critical methods to evaluate the effect of various toxins on
immune system. For example, as illustrated T2 toxin is one of
the important mycotoxin inhibiting lymphoid proliferation at
the concentration of 0.47 ppb.
 "Effect of T2 toxin on lymphocytes in the proliferation assay"
120.000

100.000

80.000

60.000

40.000

20.000

0.000

-20.000

3.75 ng/ml

0.23 ng/ml
Control

0.47 ng/ml
15 ng/ml

1.87 ng/ml

0.94 ng/ml
30 ng/ml

7.5 ng/ml
Lymphocytes (Control)

Lymphocytes + T-2 toxin

Mycotoxin induced immunosuppression
may be manifested as depressed
l y m p h o c y t e a c t i v i t y, s u p p r e s s e d
antibody production and impaired
macrophage function. The same can be
related to economics of production
through :
u Increased risk to infection
u Misleading diagnosis and therapy
u Impaired protection due to
vaccination
u Risk of vaccination diseases after
using live vaccine
u Increased mortality etc.
Prevention
Prevention of mycotoxises is still going to
be a major challenge to the industry.
Numerous strategies for detoxification,
such as physical suppression, thermal
inactivation, irradiation, microbial
degradation, and treatment with varieties
of chemicals are studied. Most of the
techniques, however, turned out to be
impractical, ineffective or expensive
under field conditions. So the best approach is to go for
prevention by use of mould inhibitors and toxin binders,
which reduce absorption of mycotoxins from GIT. Since
mycotoxins vary greatly in their structural and physical
properties, the selection of most ideal binder and
confirmation of its efficacy by repeated evaluation is most
vital. Which mycotoxin binder is most effective? - is
always a question. One can state that an ideal mycotoxin
binder should have the following properties:
u Ability to bind varieties of mycotoxins.
u Binding the mycotoxins to a greater extent.
u Tailored dose levels as per the moisture content.
u Low cost and high returns.
u Rapid and uniform dispersion in feed.
u High stability during pelleting, extrusion or storage.
u Not binding to vitamins, minerals or drugs.
u High stability over a vide pH range.
u Biodegradable after excretion.
u Non-toxic or safe.
Having selected and evaluated a suitable binder, a feed
miller can always justify the added cost by an incremental
return gained through efficient performance.
 PRACTICAL POINTS OF POULTRY PRODUCTION
u Feed ingredients having moisture more than 12% are always at high risk of Mycotoxicoses.
u Mycotoxin levels can be 30-500 times more in broken grains than in whole grain.
u At least 100 Gm of maize from each bag should be collected to make nearly 10 Kg
of sample from whole lot for true representation to analyze mycotoxin contamination.
u Contaminated maize can lose 10% of its metabolisable energy and 5% of protein.
u Immune suppression leading to frequent attack of infection and improper vaccination response can always be traced to
mycotoxin contamination.
u Presence of multiple toxins can have more devastating effect than individual toxin; so analyzing should comprise of all of
them.
u Main reasons for vaccination failure':
ChickLaff l Poor water quality (mineral content, pH extremes).
l Water lines contaminated with bacteria.
l Blocked needles, tubing and defective vaccine reservoirs
l Use of contaminated diluents.
l Use of hot water to reconstitute freeze dried vaccine pellets.
l Incorrect volumes for reconstitution and dilution.
l Absence of liquid nitrogen in dewars used to store Marek's and other
frozen vaccines.
l Incorrect spray pressure on nozzles resulting in defective distribution
patterns.
l Too long or too short a time within waterlines.
l Use of alcohol to flush lines immediately prior to administration of live
vaccines.

In the Next Issue... GMP at farm level"

Imprint line: Published and printed by Bharat Tandon for Vetcare Divn. of Tetragon Chemie Ltd., Bangalore. Published from IS-40, KHB Industrial Area,
Yelahanka New Town, Bangalore 560 064. Printed at Journal House, Bangalore 560 003. Ph:3463264.
e-mail: vetcare@vsnl.com www.vetcareindia.com

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