Dr S. K. Maini
Poultry Consultant, Hyderabad.
Multiple mycotoxins in finished poultry feeds originate mostly from the feed ingredients, having higher than normal levels of moisture, improperly handled, stored and transported.
Data reported as per a recent Mycotoxins Survey (2025), conducted by dsm-firmenich, states that 82 % of the samples collected and analysed were positive for the mycotoxins, their metabolites and masked toxins and some of the new and emerging combinations of mycotoxins and their metabolites.
Using the latest detection methods, the liquid Chromatography-Mass Specrometry (LC/MS)., it is reported that an on average 42 different mycotoxins and their metabolites were present in each sample. They also reported 10 out of 10 samples tested were contaminated with Fusarium toxins, another alarming information they put forth was 98 % of the tested samples contained a combination of 10 or more metabolites. All these have negative effects on the birds health, its immune system, performance and the farms profitability.
The best looking feed ingredients also contained higher than normal levels of mycotoxins and their metabolites, as a result of these the birds continue to suffer, industry experts, farmers and farm manager’s blame the mutations of the field Virus, the migratory birds, new and emerging diseases, vaccine failure etc., hardly any one looks towards the actual problem of multiple mycotoxins, the presence of their metabolites, the masked mycotoxins and the new and emerging types.
Three main issues need to be attended to and looked into very seriously, (1) The proper mitigation methods for these mycotoxins, as no single toxin binder, rotation of the binders or even a combination of binders is good enough to solve the problem totally. (2) the immuno-suppression leading to vaccine failure and repeated disease outbreaks with higher than normal mortalities caused by the presence of multiple mycotoxins, their various combinations and due to the presence of their metabolites and the (3) the damage done to the Gastro intestinal tract, and the associated organs like the liver, pancreas, kidneys and the overall disturbed metabolism. Presence of multiple mycotoxins and the complications created by their metabolites, are a very serious and complicated issue for the poultry industry, not easy to understand and solve, as several systems of the birds body are simultaneously involved, in ruining its health and performance.
No single product, practice or procedure can take care of all the above mentioned issues, each one has to be adequately and appropriately tackled that involves sufficient knowledge of good management, nutrition, prevalent diseases, their prevention and control, timely and proper vaccination program, hygiene and sanitation plus a lot of common sense.
The economic impact of the damage due to the presence of multiple mycotoxins, complicated with their metabolites is very difficult to calculate, but on annual basis it runs into several thousand crores.
Listed below are some of the items that directly and indirectly impact the farm, its performance and profitability.
