Abstract
Cottonseed cake in South East Asia has been associated with health issues in ruminants in the recent years. The present study was carried out to investigate the health issues associated with cottonseed cake feeding in dairy animals in Pakistan. All the cake samples were confirmed to be from early maturing cotton varieties (maturing prior to or during Monsoon). A survey of the resource persons indicated that the feeding problems with cottonseed cake appeared after 4–5 months of post-production storage. All the cake samples had heavy bacterial counts, and contaminated with over a dozen different fungal genera. Screening for toxins revealed co-contamination with toxic levels of nearly a dozen mycotoxins including aflatoxin B1 + B2 (556 to 5574 ppb), ochratoxin A + B (47 to 2335 ppb), cyclopiazonic acid (1090 to 6706 ppb), equisetin (2226 to 12672 ppb), rubrofusarin (81 to 1125), tenuazonic acid (549 to 9882 ppb), 3-nitropropionic acid (111 to 1032 ppb), and citrinin (29 to 359 ppb). Two buffalo calves in a diagnostic feed trial also showed signs of complex toxicity. These results indicate that inappropriate processing and storage of the cake, in the typical conditions of the subcontinent, could be the main contributory factors regarding the low quality of cottonseed cake.
Highlights
Cotton is a major cash crop in Southeast Asia as over 45% of the total area under oilseed crops in the region is dedicated to cotton cultivation
Out of the six cottonseed cake (CSC) samples included in the study, two (CSC-Okara, CSC-Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT)-1) were associated with cattle mortality (16% milking animals)
Three samples of CSC were found to result in reduced milk production, respiratory distress, and diarrhea followed by feed refusal
Summary
Cotton is a major cash crop in Southeast Asia as over 45% of the total area under oilseed crops in the region is dedicated to cotton cultivation. 2.2 million tons in the year 2013–2014 [1] This means that approximately 0.64 million tons of cottonseed cake (CSC) was available for livestock feeding in the country. Cottonseed cake (CSC) is the byproduct of mechanical oil extraction from cottonseed, and it is the most commonly used vegetable protein source for large ruminants in the Indian subcontinent. The quality of CSC has been a cause of public concern as many of its batches were reported to cause health issues in cattle/buffaloes. The introduction of GM cotton varieties in the year 2002 is commonly accused, without any investigations, to be the cause of such cases. The present investigations were aimed at studying the CSC samples suspected to cause toxicity in cattle and buffaloes. A short survey of the resource persons and complainant farmers was conducted before any laboratory analyses
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