Optimising mycotoxin risk management in feed

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by various fungal species that grow on many agricultural commodities. The toxicity of mycotoxins varies, ranging from hepatotoxic or even carcinogenic (aflatoxins) effects, to estrogenic (zearalenone), immunotoxic (trichothecenes, fumonisins), nephrotoxic (ochratoxins) and neurotoxic effects.

Mycotoxin toxicity

The toxicity of mycotoxins depends on many factors such as animal species, stage of the animal, level of mycotoxins contamination, type of polycontamination (additive or synergic) and immune status of the animals (sanitary conditions). In the field, the losses in performance, the increased incidence of diseases, the poor efficacy of therapeutic treatments and vaccination and the reduced reproductive performance are of great economic impact.

Mycotoxins are a worldwide threat, concerning at least 25% of the crops according to FAO. Mycotoxins cannot be removed from feed, thus the use of a wide spectrum binder is the only solution to protect animals. As mentioned above, the toxicity of mycotoxins depends on many factors. As a consequence, the optimum dosage of toxin binder is also very variable depending on situations.

Wide spectrum toxin binders

Olmix is a specialist of natural algae based solutions to improve animal performance. Olmix has developed a deep knowledge on mycotoxins risk and management, with the launch of MT.X+ in 2006 and MMi.S in 2012. MT.X+ and MMi.S are wide spectrum toxin binders developed for the use in feed mill or premix (MT.X+, powder form) or the use directly in farm (MMi.S, microgranules form). The efficacy of MT.X+ and MMi.S has been proven worldwide, even on difficult mycotoxins to bind such as trichothecenes (DON) and fumonisins.

In order to optimise the use of its wide spectrum binders, Olmix has first developed the Myco’Screen package in order to help customers to adapt their mycotoxins analysis strategy for feed or raw materials. Today, Olmix comes with a new tool named Olmix Myco’Calculator, which is the logical next step to take profit of mycotoxins analysis. It is a complex and unique tool that permits to calculate the optimum dosage of MT.X+ and MMi.S depending on the type of analysis, the animal species, the stage of the animal, the profile and level of mycotoxins contamination and the sanitary status of the farm.

Capabilities of the tool

The tool is the result of 2 years of development and modelling of a large number of situations on pigs, poultry and ruminants. The tool also has the unique capacity to handle complex polycontaminations as calculations are based on 13 major mycotoxins: T-2, HT-2, DAS, DON, D3G, 15O-acetyl DON, 3-acetylDON, Nivalenol, tenuazonic acid, zearalenone, fumonisins B1 and B2, ochratoxins and aflatoxins.

In case of ELISA analysis, the Calculator adapts the calculation without considering mycotoxins that cannot be tested. As mycotoxin toxicity also depends on the immune status of the animal, the tool adjusts the dosage if the sanitary status is not satisfying on field. At the end, Olmix Myco’Calculator provides a recommendation with a precision of 100g/ton, which permits to optimise the use of MT.X+/MMi.S. The online tool which is accessible to Olmix customers is very easy and quick to use, and is mainly dedicated to feed mill formulation services and nutritionists.