As a livestock producer, especially in the pork industry, mycotoxins are contaminating a wide range of your feed ingredients. Which in turn, affect your swine and your production rates. But as producers, what can we do to prevent and test for those mycotoxins in our feed?
Mycotoxin and Hy-D Category Manager at DSM, Paige Gott talks to us about mycotoxins and their presence in the U.S. corn crop and how that can affect producers and feed for swine specifically.
Gott summarizes the positive case percentage for mycotoxins in the corn market. She talks about the combinations of mycotoxins and their effect on swine compared to just one type of mycotoxin. She touches on the most frequently detected mycotoxins relevant in corn and feeds.
Gott notes what factors have a play in corn being more susceptible to mycotoxins. She notes what the corn risk by state looks like for containing mycotoxins and that southern or hotter climate states tend to have a higher part per billion rates. Iowa in specific has an average of 567 parts per billion for positive samples. She says what factors have a play in corn being more susceptible to mycotoxins.
Gott says that contaminated corn, doesn?t always look contaminated and that is why testing your feed or corn samples is very important. She shares different techniques to use and different test options to go about testing your feed for those mycotoxins.
Some adverse effects that mycotoxins have on swine are reproductive failure, gastrointestinal complications, integument, lactation problems. There can also be complications in the lungs, liver, kidney, immune system, water consumption, eating, etc.
Gott made the announcement that the FDA just approved their research for fumonisins in the future of mitigation options in the U.S. She is excited to announce that this is the first product for degrading fumonisins in swine feed in the U.S. market. More about this product will be released at a later date.
For more information, visit dsm.com.
