International Poultry Production — Volume 22 Number 4 15

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of fungi that grow on a variety of grains, feedstuffs and animal feed. Feed containing moderate to high levels of mycotoxins cause clinical symptoms in most animals, ranging from organ damage to acute mortality. Consumption of low levels of contaminated feed may result in subclinical problems such as immunosuppression. More than 500 mycotoxins have been identified to date. However, only a few are regularly tested for in the field. Most poultry operations regularly test for aflatoxin B1 and less frequently ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol (DON or vomitoxin), T-2 toxin, zearalenone and fumonisins. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) and ELISA are methods commonly used for these tests at feed mills and laboratories. Since one mould can produce several mycotoxins and several moulds often exist simultaneously in any given feedstuff, often there are more mycotoxins present than are being tested. If a sample contains DON for example, it is likely that several other mycotoxins including 3-acetyl DON, 15-acetyl DON, fusarenon-X and DON-3-glucoside may also be present. These toxins can contribute to the toxicity of DON so failure to test for them will give an inaccurate picture of mycotoxin contamination levels. The same applies for aflatoxins, T-2 toxin related compounds, fumonisins and ergot toxins. There are only a few laboratories in the world capable of broad spectrum analysis. Commercially accessible multiple mycotoxin analysis assists in greater understanding of the overall risk to animals as well as allowing for the development of improved mycotoxin management solutions. Alltech’s 37+ Program uses UPLC-MS/MS technology to analyse more than 37 mycotoxins from a single sample and considers the mycotoxin challenge present in each sample as a whole, rather than looking at the individual mycotoxins present. This way it more closely reflects commercial production and the challenges facing producers around the world. Since all species and life stages of birds are susceptible to mycotoxins to varying degrees, samples analysed through the 37+ Program are also given a Risk Equivalent Quantity (REQ), one number which takes into account the cumulative effect of mycotoxins and measures the overall risk to the target animal group. Through its 37+ 2013 global survey of poultry feed, Alltech has found that multiple mycotoxin contamination is the reality facing today’s poultry producers (Fig. 1). Globally, 87% of samples tested were contaminated with fumonisins, followed by Type B trichothecenes, aspergillus mycotoxins (gliotoxin, sterigmatocystin and verruculogen) and ergot toxins – 73%, 66% and 51% respectively. Aflatoxins, Type A trichothecenes and zearalenones were less prevalent (Fig. 2).