DON contamination in feed and long term effects on pig performance

DON contamination in feed represents great impact on performance and economic viability within the pig industry. The contamination of feed ingredients with mycotoxins continues to be a great problem in animal diets, especially for the pig industry. Research carried out recently focused on deoxynivalenol (DON) which is the most common mycotoxin in pig feed. It usually contaminates corn, wheat, barley and other important feed ingredients that suffer from Fusarium fungus infection. There are limits to the amount of DON allowed in pig feed due to the fact that even small amounts of this mycotoxin have negative effects on pig performance. According to previous studies 85% of all grain samples and 90% of finished feed simples in North America contained DON. Advances in mycotoxin analysis have shed light on the severity of mycotoxin contamination, revealing a worse scenario than was anticipated. As a result production costs associated with mycotoxin contamination and its control continue to increase.

Contaminated grains are usually destined for use in livestock feed despite the fact the best strategy for livestock producers should be to avoid mycotoxin contaminated grain for animal feeding. However, due to the current high incidence and levels of contamination this is not an option. As a result, different strategies have been proposed for minimizing or eliminating the negative effects of mycotoxin contamination in animal feed. A majority of these strategies, base themselves on the deactivation of mycotoxins through binding agents like silicate clays and activated carbon.These adsorbents can be included in feed in the form of non-nutrient additives. However despite these efforts, current feed additives are not very effective when it comes to mitigating mycotoxins’ negative effects, or they simply don’t have the capacity to neutralize al lot the existing types of mycotoxins. Recent studies have examined the inclusion of different additive combinations like: yeast/yeast products, preservatives, antioxidants, amino acids, and probiotics. These have shown promising results in DON-contaminated diets for weaned piglets and grower pigs.

There is a considerable amount of research regarding DON in pigs as they are one of the most susceptible livestock species to its negative effects. However, most of the previous studies have been carried out in young animals based on the idea that the negative effects of mycotoxin contamination are greater at this stage. On the other hand, most of such studies have examined the impact of mycotoxins over relatively short periods of time. Therefore plenty of ground still needs to be covered. In an attempt to make a better assessment of the problem, a study carried out by researchers from the Prairie Swine Center sought to answer the following questions: