Ensiled forage, particularly corn silage, is an important component of dairy cow diets worldwide. Forages can be contaminated with several mycotoxins in the field pre-harvest, during storage, or after ensiling during feed-out. Exposure to dietary mycotoxins adversely affects the performance and health of livestock and can compromise human health. Several studies and surveys indicate that ruminants are often exposed to mycotoxins such as aflatoxins, trichothecenes, ochratoxin A, fumonisins, zearalenone, and many other fungal secondary metabolites, via the silage they ingest. Problems associated with mycotoxins in silage can be minimized by preventing fungal growth before and after ensiling. Proper silage management is essential to reduce mycotoxin contamination of dairy cow feeds, and certain mold-inhibiting chemical additives or microbial inoculants can also reduce the contamination levels. Several sequestering agents also can be added to diets to reduce mycotoxin levels, but their efficacy varies with the type and level of mycotoxin contamination. This article gives an overview of the types, prevalence, and levels of mycotoxin contamination in ensiled forages in different countries, and describes their adverse effects on health of ruminants, and effective prevention and mitigation strategies for dairy cow diets. Future research priorities discussed include research efforts to develop silage additives or rumen microbial innocula that degrade mycotoxins.

This project aimed to examine the effects of adding 2 doses of a montmorillonite-based mycotoxin adsorbent on milk aflatoxin M(1) (AFM(1)) concentrations and the performance and innate immune response of dairy cows fed an aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1))-contaminated diet. Eight lactating cows were used in a duplicated 4×4 Latin square design with 12-d periods. Treatments included the following: (1) control diet (C), (2) aflatoxin diet (T) containing C and 75 µg of AFB(1)/kg, 3) low-clay (LC) diet containing T and Calibrin A (Amlan International, Chicago, IL) added at 0.2% of the diet dry matter (DM), and 4) high-clay diet (HC) containing T and Calibrin A added at 1% of the diet DM. Milk production and DM intake were recorded daily and milk was sampled twice daily on d 5, 9, 10, 11, and 12 in each period. Blood samples were collected on d 5 and 9 of each period. Dietary treatments did not affect DM intake, milk yield, or feed efficiency. Even though cows were limit fed, feeding T instead of C reduced milk fat yield (0.67 vs. 0.74 kg/d) and milk protein concentration (3.28 vs. 3.36%). Concentrations of AFM(1) in milk of cows fed the T and LC diets were similar (0.57 and 0.64 µg/kg) and greater than those of cows fed the HC diet (0.46 µg/kg). Haptoglobin concentration was greater (22.0 vs. 14.4) and β(2)-integrin expression (220 vs. 131) tended to be greater in cows fed diet T instead of C, but values for cows fed LC, HC, and C did not differ. In comparison to C, feeding T increased the innate immune response and decreased milk fat yield and milk protein concentration, but feeding LC and HC did not affect these measures. Only the HC diet reduced milk AFM(1) concentration.

Silage is one of the main ingredients in dairy cattle diets and it is an important source of nutrients, particularly energy and digestible fiber. Unlike properly made and managed silage, poorly made or contaminated silage can also be a source of pathogenic bacteria that may decrease dairy cow performance, reduce the safety and quality dairy products, and compromise animal and human health. Some of the pathogenic bacteria that are frequently or occasionally associated with silage are enterobacteria, Listeria, Bacillus spp., Clostridium spp., and Salmonella. The symptoms caused by these bacteria in dairy cows vary from mild diarrhea and reduced feed intake by Clostridium spp. to death and abortion by Listeria. Contamination of food products with pathogenic bacteria can cause losses of millions of dollars due to recalls of unsafe foods and decreases in the shelf life of dairy products. The presence of pathogenic bacteria in silage is usually due to contamination or poor management during the fermentation, aerobic exposure, or feed-out stages. Silage additives and inoculants can improve the safety of silage as well as the fermentation, nutrient recovery, quality, and shelf life. This review summarizes the literature on the main foodborne pathogens that occasionally infest silage and how additives can improve silage safety.

This project aimed to evaluate the effects 8 additives on the fermentation, dry matter (DM) losses, nutritive value, and aerobic stability of corn silage. Corn forage harvested at 31% DM was chopped (10mm) and treated with (1) deionized water (control); (2) Buchneri 500 (BUC; 1×10(5) cfu/g of Pediococcus pentosaceus 12455 and 4×10(5) cfu/g of Lactobacillus buchneri 40788; Lallemand Animal Nutrition, Milwaukee, WI); (3) sodium benzoate (BEN; 0.1% of fresh forage); (4) Silage Savor acid mixture (SAV: 0.1% of fresh forage; Kemin Industries Inc., Des Moines, IA); (5) 1×10(6) cfu/g of Acetobacter pasteurianus-ATCC 9323; (6) 1×10(6) cfu/g of Gluconobacter oxydans-ATCC 621; (7) Ecosyl 200T (1×10(5) cfu/g of Lactobacillus plantarum MTD/1; Ecosyl Products Inc., Byron, IL); (8) Silo-King WS (1.5×10(5) cfu/g of L. plantarum, P. pentosaceus and Enterococcus faecium; Agri-King, Fulton, IL); and (9) Biomax 5 (BIO; 1×10(5) cfu/g of L. plantarum PA-28 and K-270; Chr. Hansen Animal Health and Nutrition, Milwaukee, WI). Treated forage was ensiled in quadruplicate in mini silos at a density of 172 kg of DM/m(3) for 3 and 120 d. After 3 d of ensiling, the pH of all silages was below 4 but ethanol concentrations were least in BEN silage (2.03 vs. 3.24% DM) and lactic acid was greatest in SAV silage (2.97 vs. 2.51% DM). Among 120-d silages, additives did not affect DM recovery (mean=89.8% ± 2.27) or in vitro DM digestibility (mean=71.5% ± 0.63). The SAV silage had greater ammonia-N (0.85 g/kg of DM) and butyric acid (0.22 vs. 0.0% DM) than other treatments. In contrast, BEN and Silo-King silages had the least ammonia-N concentration and had no butyric acid. The BEN and A. pasteurianus silages had the lowest pH (3.69) and BEN silage had the least ethanol (1.04% DM) and ammonia nitrogen (0.64 g/kg DM) concentrations, suggesting that fermentation was more extensive and protein degradation was less in BEN silages. The BUC and BIO silages had greater acetic acid concentrations than control silages (3.19 and 3.19 vs. 2.78% DM), but yeast counts did not differ. Aerobic stability was increased by 64% by BUC (44.30 h) and by 35% by BEN (36.49 h), but other silages had similar values (27.0±1.13 h).

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