Mycoflora and Natural Incidence of Selected Mycotoxins in Rabbit and Chinchilla Feeds

Abstract

<jats:p>Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi that cause a toxic response when ingested by animals or man. Demand of natural fur, such as those from rabbit and chinchilla, produced under controlled conditions, has increased worldwide. The toxicogenic mycoflora contaminating feeds for these animals was enumerated and identified. Six of the major mycotoxins implicated in animal mycotoxicosis were detected and quantified. Moulds count ranged from<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:math>10 to<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mn>4.7</mml:mn><mml:mo>×</mml:mo><mml:mn>10</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math><jats:sup>5</jats:sup>CFU g<jats:sup>-1</jats:sup>; 14% of the samples exceeded the limit that determines hygienic feed quality. More than twenty species belonging to the five most important mycotoxigenic mould genera were recovered. Among the analyzed mycotoxins, aflatoxins were recovered in 100% of the examined samples, deoxynivalenol in 95%, fumonisins in 100%, ochratoxin A in 98%, T2 toxin in 98%, and zearalenone in 100%. Cooccurrence of mycotoxins was observed in 100% of the samples analyzed. Exposure to multiple mycotoxins was thus demonstrated for these animals.</jats:p>

Fungal Profile and Mycotoxin Contamination in Animal Feed in Urban and Peri-urban Zones of Bamako

“…Then, aflatoxins, OTA and ZEA filtrates were diluted with distilled water in the ratio 1 : 1 and fumonisin filtrates in the ratio 1 : 14. Fifty L of the diluted filtrate per well was used for testing (Greco et al 2012).…”

Individual and combined effects of feed artificially contaminated with with fumonisin B1 and T-2 toxin in weaned rabbits

“…It was present in all investigated rabbit feed samples studied by Greco et al (2012). The most frequent general toxic effects characteristic to T-2 are reduced feed intake and weight gain, growth depression, gastrointestinal disturbances, dermal necrosis, impairment of the immune system and reproductive disorders (Schuhmacher-Wolz et al, 2010).…”

“…All samples contained both T-2 and fumonisins (also co-contamination with aflatoxin, deoxynivalenol, ochratoxin A and zearalenone was found). The average concentrations were 63 and 1,010 μg/kg, while the maximum levels measured were 130 and 6,000 µg/kg for T-2 and fumonisins, respectively (Greco et al, 2012). In Europe, according to the scientific opinion of the EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (2014) T-2 and HT-2 toxin exposure corresponds to 7% of the LOAEL for rabbits, which is not of concern.…”

“…FB 1 is the most prevalent and toxic among the fumonisins (EFSA, 2005). It is mainly found in maize and maize-based animal feeds (Soriano and Dragacci, 2004;Waskiewicz et al, 2012) and it was present in all rabbit feed samples analysed by Greco et al (2012). Fumonisins inhibit ceramide synthase leading to the accumulation of free sphinganine and sphingosine in the cellular membranes (Riley, 1996).…”

“…Mycotoxicosis in rabbits can cause severe reduction in feed intake (up to 60%), which delays growth, thus resulting in lower productivity and economic loss. This can be of great concern as the worldwide production and consumption of rabbit meat exceeds a million tons annually (Greco et al, 2012).…”