Summer and autumn grains have high moisture content that promotes fungal growth and mycotoxin production, which may pose a threat for animal health and performance

Unprecedented rains have affected China’s crop harvest in 2021

Heavy rainfalls have been affecting many parts of central and northern China during the last months. In July, torrential rains hit Henan province, the second largest agricultural production province than accounts for nearly 10% of total grain production and more than 25% of the summer grain crop.

Most of China’s wheat, barley and canola harvest occurs in the summer months. Even though the summer harvest was almost completed, the floods caused serious damage to the processing, storage, and transportation of summer grain.

Moreover, in October, continuous rain affected the area during the gathering of the corn and drying of the grain in the year that was expected to have one of the largest

Increased fungal growth and mycotoxin risk in the grains due to high moisture content

The high moisture content of the grains creates optimal conditions for fungal growth. Fungi are responsible for decreasing the nutritional quality of the grain since the microorganisms use the grain nutrients for their own growth.

Apart from affecting feed’s nutritional quality, fungi are responsible for several infections in animals, particularly in poultry, as they can grow in the digestive system and cause disorders that impair the performance.

Another issue related to fungal contamination is the presence of mycotoxins in feed. Mycotoxins are toxins produced by fungi in specific environmental conditions in the pre-harvest and post-harvest (transportation and storage).

Mycotoxins present in the grain are highly resistant to the heat treatments applied in the feed manufacturing and are ultimately fed to animals, who suffer their toxic effects. The signs and lesions may vary depending on the type of mycotoxin: aflatoxins cause hemorrhages, fumonisins cause neurological disorders, trichothecenes cause necrosis, zearalenone cause reproductive failure, and ochratoxins are markedly nephrotoxic and hepatotoxic.

Even at low doses, mycotoxins can decrease the feed intake and growth rate, which adds up to the grains’ low nutritional value and the fungal infections, and significantly compromise farms’ profitability.

This threat demonstrates how important the inclusion of effective feed preservatives and mycotoxin binders in the grains and feed is, especially this year, to minimize the negative impact that rains may have on feed quality and animal performance.

Alquermold Natural as a natural microbicide to eliminate fungi

Organic acids have been traditionally used in China for feed preservation. They act as bacteriostatic and fungistatic substances, which means they stop the growth of microorganisms, but they do not eliminate them. Because of this mechanism of action, these preservatives have a time-limited activity and a narrow spectrum of action.

On the contrary, Alquermold Natural is a feed preservative based on the synergistic activity of the cimenol ring and the citric acid, which completely eliminate bacteria and fungi. Thanks to its strong microbicide activity, the product offers a long-term efficacy and effectivity against a broad variety of fungi.

Alquermold Natural is demonstrated to be more effective than organic acids, even used at half of the dosage (Chart 1). In this case, the reduction of Aspergillus and Fusarium growth was, respectively, a 6% and 14% better with Alquermold Natural.

The use of Alquermold Natural is of great importance during this season to prevent the growth of fungi in the stored grain and compound feed. In turn, by controlling fungi, we stop the production of new mycotoxin.

The dosage of Alquermold Natural varies according to the humidity and quality of the grain, following this scheme:

Alquerfeed Antitox to prevent the impact of mycotoxins

There is not a fully effective technique to eliminate the presence of mycotoxins in feed ingredients. Mycotoxins are ubiquitous and the inclusion of mycotoxin binders in the diet is the most useful tool to prevent the negative consequences of mycotoxins in the health status and performance of the animals.

Alquerfeed Antitox complies with the features of a highly effective toxin binder and is based on Silicoglycidol, the first patent worldwide of a mycotoxin binder. The Silicoglycidol is an optimized molecule that undergone an ionic and thermal treatment to enhance its structure, specificity, and binding properties.

Thanks to its unique structure, the Silicoglycidol can capture all range of mycotoxins at low dosage through hydrogen bonds, which are strong and stable unions that ensure mycotoxins are excreted without damaging the digestive tract nor being absorbed by the animal.

Furthermore, the Silicoglycidol has a selective adsorption, meaning it does not interact nor affect nutrients of the diet, like amino acids or vitamins, while there are no partial reactions that may produce toxic metabolites.

The use of Alquerfeed Antitox in compound feed, considering the rains occurred during this year harvest in China, is key to avoid the negative effects derived from mycotoxin-contaminated feed in commercial farming.

Conclusions

Heavy rains occurred during summer and autumn in China compromise the nutritional and microbiological quality of the grain. In this situation, the high moisture content of the grain creates the ideal environment for fungal growth and mycotoxin production.

Biovet has developed an innovative technology to minimize the risks derived from the presence of fungi and mycotoxins in feed: on one side, Alquermold Natural to prevent feed spoilage and the digestive fungal diseases, on the other, Alquerfeed Antitox, to control the mycotoxin challenge. Both solutions have low inclusion rate to maximize the nutritional value of the feed formula and enhance the performance and profitability of the farm.

Alquermold Natural and Alquerfeed Antitox are products developed and marketed by Biovet S.A. and have China GACC License Certificate.

Sources

• Borrell, J. Metabolitos fúngicos en los alimentos. Real Academia de Ciencias Veterinarias de España. RACVE, 1990.
• Patton and H. Gu, “Heavy rain hits China corn harvest, raises quality concerns,” Reuters, 2021.
• GT_Staff_Reporters, “Torrential Henan rains spark concern over grain production,” Global Times, 2021.
• Schmale, D.G., G.P. Munkvold. Mycotoxins in Crops. The Plant Health Instructor, 2009. DOI: 10.1094/PHI-I-2009-0715-01.