BIOMIN - Healthy Animal Nutrition

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Mycotoxins

Mycotoxicoses

Swine

Effects of mycotoxins on health and productivity of swine

Generally, pigs are very sensitive against mycotoxins, however, aflatoxicosis has been the most extensively studied mycotoxicosis in this animal species. Toxicity of aflatoxins has been reported in suckling piglets, growing and finishing swine as well as breeder stock. Clinical and pathological signs include decreased feed intake, feed conversion efficiency and rate of weight gain, toxic hepatitis, nephrosis and systemic haemorrhages. Aflatoxins can also be transferred in utero from sows to the piglet and thus affect the biological and immunological responsiveness of neonatal pigs. However, the effects of aflatoxins in pigs are varied and may be more or less pronounced, depending upon the age of animal, diet, toxin concentration and duration of exposure.
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Deoxynivalenol has been implicated in a disease known as moldy corn toxicosis of swine. Clinical signs comprise feed refusal (as this toxin makes grain unpalatable to pigs), poor weight gain or even weight loss, increased incidence of infectious diseases and digestive disorders, including diarrhea and vomiting (DON is also called vomitoxin). Other observed clinical signs include failure of mature sows to return to estrus, reduced efficiency, high mortality of nursing pigs, intestinal tract inflammation and acute diarrhea in young pigs. Autopsies of young pigs revealed haemorrhaging into the abdominal cavities.

Conjunctivitis, inflamed vagina, dermal lesions, prolaps of vagina, edema of vulva, splay legs, tail necrosis, blood in urine and faeces, joint lesions

Another mycotoxin having detrimental effects on swine performance is T-2 toxin. Field observations indicated that this and related compounds are associated with decreased productivity at feed concentrations of 200ppb or less. Infertility with some lesions in the uteri and ovaries result from consumption of feed contaminated with 1 to 2ppm of T-2 toxin.
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Zearalenone will significantly affect the reproductive performance of pigs, causing severe financial loss to farmers. When consumed by swine this compound can cause the estrogenic syndrome, which is characterized in females by a swollen and edematous vulva with enlarged mammary glands and in young males by a shrinking of the testes. Young gilts, which are most sensitive to zearalenone, may show uterine prolapse.
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Ochratoxin A-damage to kidneys of swine is characteristic enough to be called porcine nephropathy, which is recognizable and recordable in commercial slaughtering. Moreover, OTA was found to impair fertility in boars and to be teratogenic, but only at extremely high concentrations. As OTA crosses the placental barrier, fetal growth might be impaired and symptoms such as tail necrosis in piglets have been discussed to be the consequence of OTA exposure. Economic losses attributed to the presence of this compound in feeds are not only related to impaired animal health and productivity, but are partly due to the discharge of pig carcasses after slaughter. Due to its high rate of binding to serum proteins, ochratoxin A has a long biological half life and is found frequently as residue in porcine meat and meat products intended for human consumption.
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In pigs the main symptom of fumonisin B1 exposure is pleural edema (PPE; porcine pulmonary edema) impairing respiratory and heart function.