Mycotoxins -- Well-known & "Emerging" -- as Antinutritional Factors
by Clayton Gill
Mycotoxins are poisonous metabolites of naturally occurring mold organisms that contaminate corn, soybean meal, and other feedstuffs. Even in very low concentrations, mycotoxins can hurt animal health and productivity. The animal and food industries are constantly on the lookout for the most well-know, dangerous mycotoxins such as aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol (DON or vomitoxin), zearalenone, and fumonisins.
However, recent research reveals a host of "emerging" mycotoxins that are not yet regularly determined or regulated. These mold metabolites include fusaric acid, moniliformin, and beauvericin. Altogether, emerging mycotoxins now make up nearly a third of identified mycotoxins.
Like the well-known mycotoxins, the emerging mycotoxins share many characteristics of the "antinutritional factors" (ANF) that occur naturally in legume and cereal feedstuffs. ANF include protease inhibitors (like trypsin inhibitor in soybeans), amylase inhibitors, and many other plant-based compounds that, left untreated, interfere with nutrient absorption and can cause micronutrient malnutrition and mineral deficiencies in poultry and livestock.
The current report, authored by an Alltech, Inc. employee, notes: "Mycotoxins have actions similar to antinutritional factors, leading to both direct and indirect losses associated with animal health, performance and profitability." The author provides a list of common attributes shared by ANF and mycotoxins, making the case that both categories of naturally occurring compounds require attention with respect to the health and productivity of poultry. The growing prevalence of emerging mycotoxins warrants even more attention.
This report focuses primarily on an analysis of nearly 6,000 corn grain samples from countries around the world conducted from January 2023 to May 2024 by the Alltech 37+ Analytical Laboratory using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass-spectrometry. The analysis found an average of 6.7 mycotoxins per sample, with emerging mycotoxins present in more than 30% of samples.
"Notably," the author states, "these results also showed that the prevalence of seven of the key emerging mycotoxins has increased on average 6.6% between 2018 and 2024, underscoring the growing significance of these compounds in poultry feed safety."
Fusarium molds produce many of the emerging mycotoxins but other sources include Alternaria species. Key emerging mycotoxins include fusaric acid, moniliformin, beauvericin, enniatin A/A1, and enniatin B/B1.
This report provides a summary of the negative impacts of various well-known mycotoxins on poultry health and productivity. It points out that there remains only limited research documenting the effects of emerging mycotoxins in poultry:
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Fusaric acid (FA) can increase embryo mortality (even greater with the presence of fumonisin B1)
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Moniliformin (MON) can cause heart damage, respiratory distress, muscular weakness, and immune suppression
This report also highlights meta-analyses of studies over the past 15 years focused on the use of dietary supplements to reduce or mitigate the effects of mycotoxins in poultry. These studies made use of mycotoxin adsorbents including clay minerals and yeast-based additives, particularly a commercially available yeast cell wall extract (YCWE).
The net result of the broiler studies pointed to YCWE inclusion showing higher gain, better efficiency, lower mortality, and smaller carbon footprint of production compared to consumption of mycotoxins alone. In the layer studies, feeding YCWE during mycotoxin challenges led to greater egg production and heavier egg weights than hens fed mycotoxins without YCWE.
What does this study mean for producers?
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Keep in mind that mycotoxins occur in feedstuffs and finished feeds worldwide, threatening poultry health and productivity even in very low concentrations.
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Note that mycotoxins can cause losses in poultry comparable to dietary antinutritional factors (for example, trypsin inhibitor in soybeans)
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Pay attention to "emerging mycotoxins" that are not yet regularly determined or regulated but that can negatively impact bird health and productivity
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Plan for "mycotoxin management," which includes risk assessment and potential mitigation strategies, including adsorbent feed additives
The full paper, titled "Mycotoxins as antinutritional factors: occurrence, impacts and management" can be found in Applied Poultry Research and online here.
DOI: 10.1016/j.japr.2025.100543