Mycotoxins in Poultry feed
1. Mycotoxins in poultry feed pose a constant threat to the poultry industry globally.
2. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization Report, 25% of the world’s growing crops are affected by mycotoxins each year, with annual losses of around 1 billion metric tons of food and food products.
3. The reasons for mycotoxins to receive this particular attention are their undesirable health effects, decrease in the production rate due to the spoilage of feed, and overall economic effects which are reflected in international trade of food and food products.
4. Therefore, control of the fungal development and mycotoxin production are crucial for feed and animal producers
5. Preventive measures to be taken to reduce mycotoxins
a) Handling of grain at farm level ,
b) clean storage
c) and controlling moisture level are the needful measures to control Mycotoxins in raw material.
6. Several factors increase a bird’s susceptibility to mycotoxins, such as:
a) Birds being placed in a hostile environment, e.g. high temperatures and humidity
b) Poor ventilation
c) High density
d) Challenges from poultry diseases e.g. coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis.
7. Immunotoxic substances such as mycotoxins are unsuspected players in the failure of vaccines to provoke a proper immune response.
8. The effects of mycotoxins in poultry are very complex and varies greatly according to their mechanism of toxicity affecting several organs
9. And in case of high contamination levels, may even lead to death of animals.
10. More than 50% of feed consists of Maize and infected Maize attributes to 50% of Mycotoxins .
11. Mycotoxins are going to be future major challenge for Poulltry farmers as mycotoxin infected birds are susceptible to disease which will substantially decrease productivity causing economic losses.
12. This necessiate a comprehensive single solution which has got broad specturm mycotoxin binding efficacy against mycotoxins.
By Dr V.Rajendra Prasad
