Mycotoxins in horse feed: Incidence of deoxynivalenol in oat samples from stud farms

Abstract

Reports concerning mycotoxins in horse feed are very rare and are typically restricted to fumonisins. As a non-ruminant monogastric species, horses may be more sensitive to adverse effects of mycotoxins, but the most severe effect of fumonisin B1 (FB1) in equines is that it causes fatal leucoencephalomalacia. In recent years, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has evaluated several mycotoxins as ?undesirable substances in animal feed? with the aim of establishing guidance values for the feed industry. In its evaluation of deoxynivalenol (DON), EFSA concluded that this toxin exhibited toxic effects in all species, but that horses were more tolerant towards this toxin than pigs. According to the available data, a systematic survey on mycotoxins in horse feed in Serbia has not been published. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of mycotoxins in horse feed in Vojvodina. Samples of oats for horse consumption, collected in 2010, were analyzed by enzyme immunoassays (ELISA) for deoxynivalenol contamination. Twelve samples of oats were taken from twelve horse studs, with sport, school and hobby horses.Izvestaji o pojavi mikotoksina kod konja su veoma retki i obicno se od- nose na fumonizin. Kao monogastricna vrsta, a neprezivari, konji bi trebalo da su osetljiviji na delovanje mikotoksina, a najopasniji je fumonizin B1 (FB1) koji kod konja izaziva leukoencefalomalaciju sa fatalnim posledicama. Proteklih godina Evropska Agencija za bezbednost hrane (?EFSA?) je ispitala velik broj mikotoksina kao ?nezeljenih supstanci u stocnoj hrani?, delom i sa ciljem da uspostavi granicne vrednosti za industriju stocne hrane. U istrazivanjima o deoksinivalenolu (DON), u ?EFSA? je zakljuceno da on kod svih vrsta izaziva toksicne poremecaje, ali da su konji manje osetljivi na ovaj toksin nego svinje. Na osnovu dostupnih podataka, do sada nije bilo publikacija o sistematskom istrazivanju mikotoksina u hrani za konje u Srbiji. Stoga je cilj ove studije bio da ispita pojavu DON-a u hrani za konje u Vojvodini. Uzeti su uzorci ovsa za ishranu konja, sakupljeni u 2010. godini, i analizirani pomocu enzimskog imuno-vezujuceg testa (ELISA) na kontaminaciju deoksinivalenolom. Sakupljeno je dvanaest uzoraka ovsa iz dvanaest zapata konja, koji se koriste za sport, skolu jahanja i rekreaciju.