Is It Time to Re-Evaluate the Fusarium Mycotoxin Tolerance Levels for Pigs?
Nutrition Update Volume 14 No.1, May 2003 Fusarium fungi produce mycotoxin metabolites that are can be toxic when consumed by livestock. Pigs are especially sensitive to the presence of mycotoxins, especially deoxynivalenol (DON), also known as vomitoxin. Fusarium fungi have established a stronghold in the eastern prairies, an in particular in Manitoba. Fusarium is not going to go away anytime soon or possibly not at all. Thus DON will pose a serious threat to Manitoba s pig industry and will impact on how the industry is able to utilise locally grown feedstuffs in the future. DON causes pigs to refuse feed and thus animal performance will suffer. In extreme instances, pigs will actually vomit if the consume DON. However this situation is rare since the animals usually just stop eating the suspect feed. For a number of years, a general recommendation has been that diets for growing pigs should not contain more than 1 mg/kg (ppm) and that lactating sow diets should be DON-free. While th
