From plants to silage: the mycotoxin problematic
(2006) BCCM News — Vol. 20, n° WINTER, p. 2-3 (2006)
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- Abstract
- In Belgium, silage constitutes the basic cattle forage during winter and, in part, also during summer. There are different crops used for ensilage such as whole corn plant, CCM (corn cob mix), grass, and sugar beet pulp. Among the various clients of BCCM/MUCL, farmers or industries often ask for help with health problems encountered in livestock fed with fungal and presumably mycotoxin contaminated silage. However, little information is are available that could be used to assess the risks of such contaminations by fungal toxic secondary metabolites, largely because most of the suspected effects are non-specific (reduction of fertility, reduction of productivity, immunosuppressive effects, etc.) and subject to influences other than simply feed quality. However, the presence of molds is a good indication of the likelihood of mycotoxin problems. Several mycotoxin-producing genera such as Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Byssochlamys have often been isolated from silage samples. Those genera are perfectly adapted to silage conditions and can be correlated with the presence of mycotoxins. In addition, fusarial toxins (toxins produced by various species of Fusarium) have been detected in significant quantities in silage samples, although the living conditions for Fusaria are not optimum in such matrices. Therefore, the presence of the mycotoxins could be accounted for by fungal production while the plants were growing. In that context, BCCM/MUCL introduced two research projects in order to analyze both silage and plants at the fungal and the mycotoxigenic levels.
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Citations
Munaut, F., Van Hove, F., & Scauflaire, J. (2006). From plants to silage: the mycotoxin problematic. BCCM News, 20(WINTER), 2-3. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/39114 (Original work published 2006)