Effects of Fumonisin B and Hydrolyzed Fumonisin B on Growth and Intestinal Microbiota in Broilers

Song Yu,Na Liu,Aibo Wu,Huikang Lin,Shuo Zhang,Bingxuan Jia,Dianzhen Yu

doi:10.3390/toxins14030163

Abstract

Fumonisins are mainly produced by Fusarium verticillioides and proliferatum, which causes a variety of toxicities in humans and animals, including fumonisin Bs (FBs) as the main form. After they are metabolized by plants or microorganisms, modified fumonisins are difficult to detect by conventional methods, which result in an underestimation of their contamination level. Fumonisins widely contaminate maize and maize products, especially in broiler feed. As an economically important food, broilers are often adversely affected by mycotoxins, leading to food safety hazards and high economic losses. However, there are few studies regarding the adverse effects of FBs on broiler growth and health, especially modified FBs. Our data shows that after exposure to FBs or hydrolyzed fumonisin Bs (HFBs), the body weight and tissue weight of broilers decreased significantly, especially the testes. Moreover, they significantly affect the intestinal microbiota and the relative abundance of bacteria from phylum-to-species levels, with the differentially affected bacteria mainly belonging to Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. Our findings suggest that both the parent and hydrolyzed FBs could induce growth retardation, tissue damage and the imbalance of intestinal microbiota in broilers. This indicated that the harmful effects of HFBs cannot be ignored during food safety risk assessment.

Highlights

To explore the effect of fumonisin Bs (FBs) and hydrolyzed fumonisin Bs (HFBs) on the broilers, the death, body weight and feed intake of the broilers were monitored during the experiment
Our results reveal that even if the exposure dose of fumonisin and the modified form are the same, the level of toxins in the feces of the HFBs group is much lower than that in the FBs group, which means that the modified fumonisin may have higher bioavailability or be transformed, making itself difficult to be detected by current approaches
More attention should be focused on modified mycotoxin and toxin mixtures during the security risk assessment

Summary

Introduction

When maize is infected by the Fusarium species, it will reduce the yield and quality, and result in the accumulation of toxic mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are synthesized in maize kernels and accumulate in maize-based feed directly [1,2]. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that more than 25% of cereal crops are lost annually due to mycotoxin contamination [3]. Mycotoxins can enter humans and animals through the food chain, which is a serious threat to human and animal health and causes heavy economic losses [4,5]

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Discussion

Conclusion