Effect of Mycotoxin Binders on Growth and Metabolic Indicators in Pigs and Ducks Fed Mycotoxin Contaminated Diets

Mycotoxins are feed contaminants that are a major problem in the livestock industry because of their prevalence in feedstuffs and the difficulty of removing them. They can cause a wide range of issues at varying levels of exposure. Each species is affected by different mycotoxins and at different levels. Pigs are more susceptible to deoxynivalenol (DON), whereas ducks are more susceptible to aflatoxin. Effects of mycotoxin contamination on animal performance are not fully understood. Therefore, the two experiments described in this thesis were conducted to determine the response of pigs and ducks to consumption of feed contaminated with DON and aflatoxin, respectively. In the first experiment, the effect of a mycotoxin binder on duck feeds contaminated with aflatoxin was examined. One-day-old male Pekin ducks (n=360) were randomly divided into four groups; each group had 6 replicate pens with 15 ducks per replicate pen. The positive control (PC) group was fed a diet that was free of aflatoxin B1, the negative control (NC) group was fed a diet that contained >75ppb of aflatoxin without a binder, the negative control with low binder (NC + 0.5) group was fed a diet that contained >75ppb of aflatoxin and 0.5 kg/ton of the binder, the negative control with high binder (NC + 1.0) group was fed a diet that contained >75ppb of aflatoxin and 1.0 kg/ton of the binder. The diets were fed in two phases, days 0-14 (phase 1) and 15-35 (phase 2). The results showed that during early phase 2, NC + 0.5 resulted in a higher rate of weight gain compared to NC (P In the second study, effect of the same mycotoxin binder, used in the duck study, was examined in pigs fed diets contaminated with DON. A total of 128 pigs (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, (1:1 barrows and gilts, aged 42 d) were randomly assigned to 4 treatments, 8 replicate pens with 4 pigs per. The treatments were DON, DON + liver protectant (1 kg/ton), DON + mycotoxin binder (0.5 kg/ton), or DON + liver protectant and mycotoxin binder. The study lasted 28 days and body weights (BW), feed intake (FI), and blood samples were taken on days 14 and 28. Body weights and feed intake were taken and used to calculate gain:feed (G:F). Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were measured in the blood serum. BW, FI, and G:F were not significantly different at any point during the study. AST levels were significantly reduced (P In summary, effects of the use of mycotoxin binders in feed can be highly variable. This depends on the type of mycotoxin present in the feed, the amount of mycotoxin, and the species fed the diet. In the present study, the mycotoxin binder did not have an impact on the feed efficiency of the ducks or pigs. Effects of additional binders need to be evaluated for their effectiveness in mitigating the negative effects of mycotoxins.