ARS | Publication request: Mycotoxins in corn distillers grains: a concern in ruminants?

Submitted to: Extension Publications
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: March 13, 2008
Publication Date: March 18, 2008
Publisher's URL: http://www.sdstate.edu
Citation: Garcia, A., Kalscheur, K., Hippen, A., Schingoethe, D., Rosentrater, K.A. 2008. Mycotoxins in corn distillers grains: a concern in ruminants? South Dakota Extension Extra, pp. 1-3.

Technical Abstract: The main fungi that produce toxins during storage belong to three genera: Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium. It is not easy to correlate the presence of mycotoxins to that of molds when dealing with cattle diets. The same type of molds can produce different kind of toxins and different molds can produce the same mycotoxin. The fact that multiple ingredients usually make up a dairy cattle diet can be viewed both in a positive and negative light when addressing mycotoxicosis. On one hand, multiple feeds dilute the toxins from a given feed, resulting in a safer diet. On the other hand, the effect of toxins can be additive, therefore if there are multiple contaminated feeds, their toxic effect will be compounded. Mycotoxins are not destroyed during the ethanol fermentation process, or the distillers grains production processes, but instead increase by nearly three-fold their concentration in the original kernels. Inadequate storage conditions may also increase their concentration due to the inoculation with mold spores present in the environment. The use of mycotoxin-contaminated distillers grains in dairy cattle diets poses a risk to human health because M1, an aflatoxin metabolite, transfers to milk. Even when the toxin level is within acceptable standards for distillers grains, their additive nature does not preclude the potential for toxicity. In the presence of borderline acceptable levels of aflatoxin B1 in distillers grains, testing the TMR and/or individual feeds is recommended to ensure milk will not be contaminated. If a feed ration has been found to have high mycotoxin levels, the producer could include various feed additives to bind the mycotoxins, and reduce absorption in the animals. For example, Beta-glucans, zeolyte, and other binders have been found to be effective.