Farmers Review Africa July/Aug 2017 Farmers Review Africa July/Aug 2017 | Page 21

mycotoxins and commodities and offer a very
quick and effective way of raw material
screening before they enter the feed mill. Once
the levels are known, every feed mill can
estimate the quality of its raw ingredients in
terms of mycotoxin contamination and can
effectively and more precisely (dosage
adjustment) apply mycotoxin deactivator
during feed production.
Test the nished feed
A n ot h e r s t r at e g y of myc ot ox i n r i s k
management is to test for the presence of
mycotoxins in nished feeds. is method
has some advantages and disadvantages. e
most important advantage is that as every raw
ingredient can bring its own mycotoxins into
the nished feed and by only testing some raw
ingredients by rapid test kits, some important
raw ingredients whose inclusion is not high
(5-10%) and which can still cause signi cant
contamination of nished feed can be missed.
Since the 1960's, many analytical methods
have been developed for the testing of
mycotoxins in human food and animal feeds
due to the concern of toxicity for human
health. Among them, the methods of thin-
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layer-chromatography (TLC), enzyme-
linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and
immunosensor-based methods have been
widely used for rapid screening, while high-
performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
with uorescence detection (FD) and mass
spectrometry detection (MS) have been used
as con rmatory and reference. Accredited
laboratory service is required for this step.
e most important disadvantage is that
analysis of nished feed takes quite a long
time such that the tested feed is likely to have
been fed to the animals by the time the results
from the analysis are known.
Use mould inhibitors
Storage mycotoxin contamination
(ochratoxins, a atoxins) can be prevented by
keeping temperature and moisture content in
silos low whilst grain is regularly aerated. In
case perfect storage conditions cannot be
guaranteed, use of mould inhibitor is highly
recommended.
Apply mycotoxin deactivator
e nal possible step in mycotoxin
manag ement is t he application of a
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REVIEW AFRICA
mycotoxin deactivator. ese products work
strictly in vivo and will not counteract or mask
mycotoxin in stored feed or raw ingredients. It
is highly recommended to apply effective
mycotoxin deactivator which offers an
opportunity to signi cantly improve animal
health, performance, productivity and pro t
impaired by mycotoxins. Depending on the
target performance different mycotoxins can
be more or less problematic. erefore, using
different products for different animal groups
become a rational trend.
ese products work strictly in vivo and
will not counteract or mask mycotoxin in
stored feed or raw ingredients.
References
Kanora A. and Maes D. 2009. e role of
mycotoxins in pig reproduction: a review.
Veterinarni Medicina, 54, 2009 (12): 565–576.
by Radka Borutova,
Business Development Manager,
Nutriad International
July - August 2017