292 Effects of feeding mycotoxins-contaminated feed with a mitigation strategy on growth performance and health status in weaned pigs

Abstract

Abstract Various types and levels of mycotoxins are present in feed ingredients, thus negatively impacting swine health and productivity. Appropriate sampling and frequent testing of feed ingredients are recommended to assess the risk of mycotoxins in feed and to determine mitigation strategies for mycotoxin control. However, monitoring plans do not guarantee feed will be free of mycotoxins, so in-feed mitigation strategies are implemented to minimize production losses. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a mycotoxin mitigation product (MultiSHIELD, modified clinoptilolite-based product) on growth performance and health status of weaned pigs under dietary challenges with various types and levels of mycotoxins commonly found in feed. The presence of mycotoxins was confirmed in the ground corn, which was obtained from the Midwestern United States and then used in a standard corn and soybean meal-based diet for three dietary treatments. Treatments were as follows: 1) control diet containing mycotoxins without mitigation (fumonisins B1 at 390, 454, and 527 ppb; zearalenone at 727, 846, and 982 ppb; deoxynivalenol at 671, 781, and 907 ppb in N1, N2, and N3 diets, respectively), 2) control diet with 0.15% of MultiSHIELD as mitigation level 1, and 3) control diet with 0.3% of MultiSHIELD as mitigation level 2. A total of 912 weaned pigs were allotted to 1 of 3 dietary treatments (19 pigs per pen and 16 replicates per treatment) in a randomized complete block design with the initial body weight (as blocking. The results revealed that mycotoxin mitigation, regardless of the mitigation levels, had decreased removal rate (P < 0.01), incidence of injectable medication treatments (P = 0.01), ear necrosis (P = 0.27), and scours (P = 0.18) compared with control. Overall, pigs fed mycotoxin mitigation treatment diets had heavier pen weight (P = 0.06) than those fed the control diet due to fewer removals. The results also demonstrated a significant improvement of economic parameters (i.e., income over feed cost per pen; P = 0.01) for pigs fed diets with MultiSHIELD, regardless of the inclusion level, than pigs fed control diet. In conclusion, poor swine productivity was observed due to the presence of mycotoxins in feed, and the inclusion of MultiSHIELD in feed under the mycotoxin challenge delivers a positive impact on health and economic performance of nursery pigs.