Effects of graded levels ofFusariumtoxin contaminated wheat in diets for fattening pigs on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, deoxynivalenol balance and clinical serum characteristics

Abstract

A dose response study was carried out with pigs in order to examine the effects of increasing dietary deoxynivalenol (DON)-concentrations on performance, clinical serum characteristics, nutrient digestibility and DON-metabolism. For this purpose, wheat contaminated naturally with Fusarium toxins was incorporated into pig diets at increasing proportions to give calculated dietary DON-concentrations of 0, 2.3 and 4.6 mg/kg during the starter period of phase 1 (14 d) of the experiment, and 0/0, 1.2/1.4, 2.3/3.7 mg/kg starter/grower diet during phase 3 (56 d) of the experiment. Each diet was tested on 16 pigs of both sexes with an initial average live weight of approximately 28 kg. A recovery phase (phase 2, 21 d) was intercalated between phase 1 and 3 of the growth experiment where all groups were fed with the uncontaminated control diet since some pigs exposed to the highest dietary DON-concentration during phase 1 nearly completely refused the offered feed. Affected pigs completely recovered during this phase. In phase 3, when diets with lower DON-concentrations were fed, no differences in performance could be detected. Serum clinical characteristics (enzymes indicating liver damage, total protein, immunoglobulins) did not respond to increasing DON-concentration in the diets. DON-concentration in serum increased in a dose-response-related manner as dietary DON-concentration increased. However, this parameter was not or only weakly correlated to any of the examined performance parameters or serum characteristics. Also, nutrient digestibility of the diets and N-retention were not affected by treatments with the exception of crude fat digestibility which was not consistently influenced. Concentration of DON and its metabolite de-epoxy-DON increased in urine with increasing dietary DON-concentration in a strongly linearly related fashion. The proportion of the excretion of de-epoxy-DON of the total urinary excretion of DON plus de-epoxy-DON rose linearly up to approximately 4%. Total recovery of DON plus de-epoxy-DON as percentage of DON-intake varied between 45 and 57% and was not influenced by dietary DON-concentration. Only a very small fraction of approximately 0.1% of ingested DON was recovered in faeces.

The progression of deoxynivalenol-induced growth suppression in nursery pigs and the potential of an algae-modified montmorillonite clay to mitigate these effects12

“…In a pig growth study by Thanh et al (2015), pigs fed DON-contaminated diets (4.6 mg/kg) had reduced DM, energy, and fat digestibility. However, this conflicts with previous reports where feeding DON-contaminated diets had no impact (Dänicke et al, 2004b) or even increased total tract nutrient digestibility in feed-restricted pigs (Dänicke et al, 2004a). Authors attributed these fluctuations in digestibility to variations in the grain varieties used, production of cell wall-degrading enzymes by Fusarium fungi, and DON-induced changes in intestinal absorption capacity (Bracarense et al, 2012).…”

Evaluation of a mycotoxin adsorbent in swine diets containing barley naturally contaminated with Fusarium mycotoxins

“…Several studies have reported a DON-related improvement in nutrient digestibility (Goyarts and Dänicke, 2005a). In the present study, however, feeding pigs diets with barley naturally contaminated with Fusarium mycotoxins did not have a significant effect on nutrient digestibility, in agreement with Dänicke et al (2004) who reported no effect of feeding DON-contaminated diets to pigs on nutrient digestibility. The reason for this discrepancy in results is still unclear.…”

The efficacy of anti-mycotoxin feed additives in preventing the adverse effects of wheat naturally contaminated with Fusarium mycotoxins on performance, intestinal barrier function and nutrient digestibility and retention in weanling pigs

“…(1 feed) has been shown to induce anorexia, decrease weight gain and impair the immune system, resulting in an increased incidence of infectious diseases and digestive disorders (Rotter et al 1994;Do¨ll et al 2003;Swamy et al 2003;Da¨nicke et al 2004cDa¨nicke et al , 2005Da¨nicke et al , 2007Pinton et al 2008). Acute higher doses induce feed refusal, increased salivation, vomiting, hemorrhagic diarrhea and circulatory shock (Pestka and Smolinski 2005;Pinton et al 2008).…”