Plant-associated toxins in animal feed: Screening and confirmation assay development

Abstract

Many plants, and microbial invaders of plants, produce chemicals that exhibit a wide range of mammalian toxicity. Animals are exposed to these toxins via normal grazing and browsing, or being supplied with otherwise healthy feed contaminated by the toxin-producing plants or plant-associated microorganisms. Plant-associated toxins can also enter the human food supply as endogenous components of the food humans eat, as contaminants in foods such as grain products and honey, or as contaminant residues in animal-derived food such as meat, dairy products and eggs. To protect animal health, welfare and productivity there is an ongoing need to elucidate the factors associated with intoxication, chemically identify the causative toxins and then develop assay methodology to allow the assessment of animal feed for potential toxicity. The review presented describes work by the Plant Toxins Research Group of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) on the detection and quantitation of three classes of plant-associated toxins i.e., the phomopsins, corynetoxins and pyrrolizidine alkaloids.