Mycotoxin occurrence in poultry feed and feed ingredients

Due to the critical nature of feed safety in poultry, safeguards are normally put in place to make sure that feed is safe for poultry. Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites that are produced by fungi which can, when consumed, result in issues including reduced appetite, suppressed growth, decreased feed efficiency, compromised immune systems, predisposition to secondary infections, poor production performance and mortality in poultry. Co-contamination of mycotoxins has been widely reported to exert negative synergistic effects as well. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and types of mycotoxin co-contamination levels in poultry feed and feed ingredients in the Southeastern U.S. Samples were analyzed for mycotoxin levels using HPLC/MS-MS and included corn (n=335), soybeans (n=60), soybean meal (n=44), broiler feed (n=64), and layer feed (n=68). Out of the 572 tested samples, 86% were positive for fumonisin (FUM), 45% were positive for deoxynivalenol (DON), 36% were positive for zearalenone (ZEA), and 10% were positive for aflatoxin (AFLA). All corn and feed samples were contaminated with at least one mycotoxin. Results show that mycotoxin co-contamination seems to be very common, with 34% of the total samples contaminated with one mycotoxin, 25% with two mycotoxins, and 30% contaminated with three mycotoxins. The combination of DON + FUM made up the majority of the dual contaminations, and DON + FUM + ZEA made up the majority of the triple contaminations. Statistical differences were observed between concentrations of a given mycotoxin across different sample types. These data support the importance of routine testing for mycotoxins in finished feed and raw ingredients before providing them to poultry.