Page 26-Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 13,1993
Corn Mold
(Continued from Page 23)
Penn State.
According to Dr. Nelson,
who is nationally recognized
for his work with molds and
mycoloxins, conditions this
year have been good for the
production of vomitoxin
(DON) and zearalenone. Fumo
nison and T-2, two other Fusar
ium mycoloxins, have not been
a problem. Neither has aflalo
xin, which is more common
under hot, dry conditions.
To find out what sort of test
results are showing up, I also
contacted several laboratories:
Summerdale Laboratory (Sum
merdale, Pa.), Myers Analyti
cal Laboratory (Littlestown,
Test For
Mycotoxins
(Continued from Page 21)
samples or mail them overnight to the
laboratory.
Don’t mail on Fridays or weekends to most
laboratories.
Quantitative or confirmatory tests may cost
from $75 to $l5O each, at some laboratories.
They are available at a modest charge at the
State Dignostic Laboratory, P.O. Box 367,
Summerdale, PA 17903-0367 (telephone
717-787-8808). A processing period of seven
to 14 days or more may be necessary for con
firmatory mycoloxin testing.
Usually 20 percent to 40 percent of the sus
pected feeds tested for mycotoxins may test
positive.
Some laboratories are reporting as high as
80 percent to 90 percent positives, mainly
Fusarium toxins this winter.
Some of these positive feeds can be used at
reduced levels for some animals or may be
sufficiently low to not be indicated in animal
problems.
Interpretation of tests and diagnosis is ham
pered by many factors, including a lack of
specific tests for many of the mycotoxins
known to exist, few hard data on harmful
levels, possible additive effects from several
mycotoxins being present at low levels, and
the minute amounts of mycotoxins that may
be present in only part of the supply of a parti
cular feed.
Use the guidelines available on PENpagcs
(contact Extension) and elsewhere in inter
preting test data.
Effects on performance and related health
symptoms must be considered, as well as
levels and types of mycotoxins found.
Feeds with over 20-40 ppb aflatoxin should
be considered highly suspect for young ani
mals, and those with over 100 ppb on a dry
matter basis for older animals.
Those containing over 1.0-1.5 ppm of other
mycotoxins should be highly suspect of ha rm
ful involvement.
Moldy feeds or those with the above or
higher levels of mycotoxins should be at least
temporarily discontinued when their use is
accompanied by marked performance reduc
tion or related health symptoms that arc other
wise unexplained.
If moderate performance effects arc noted
without health symptoms, reduce the level of
positive or suspected feeds with mold present.
Removal or appreciable reductions in sus
pected feeds should result in considerable
improvement within three to seven days in
many cases.
Mycoloxin levels indicated here arc
referred to on a dry matter basis. Often labor
atory results are given on an as fed or as
received basis. Thus, it is important to know
how reports arc given and express them on a
dry matter basis loi interpretation.
Levels of aflaloxini in the total ration dry
matter should be limited to 20-40 ppb for milk
cows. A longer recovery period may be
needed for animals with considerable liver or
kidney involvement
Aluminosilicates and some bentonites may
be fed to partially reduce harmful effects and
levels of aflatoxms in the milk.
Pa.), Lancaster Laboratory
(Leola, Pa.), Skyview Labor
atories (Somerset, Pa), Eastern
Laboratories (York, Pa.), and
Romer Laboratories (Union,
Mo.).
Summerdale labs, which is
administered by the Bureau of
Animal Industry, has been run
ning 45-50 com samples per
month this fall. They do an ELI
SA screen and follow that with
HPLC or GLC for quantitative
measurement. More than half
of the feed and grain samples
run since July have been posi
tive for mycoloxins, and of
those, nearly 80 percent have
contained vomitoxin. Very
little aflatoxin has been found.
An occasional sample will con-
NEW DKSI2
NEW DK522
DK524
Average
Pioneer 3751
Funks G 4106
G 4231
G 4292
Average
Doeblers 48XE
49XP
Average
Zone 2 Late-Medium Season*
Two Year Performance
Yield DEKAT.B Rnul
Advantage
DEKALB DK646
Doeblers 66XP
73XP
69XP
75X
4530
4543
Funks
Pioneer 3527
3394
3295
3293
3241
tain T-2 or zearalenone. So
these results match Dr. Nel
son’s comments almost
exactly.
Of the remaining laborato
ries, two reported results simi
lar to that of Summerdale, with
vomitoxin accounting for most
of the positive tests. Two other
labs have done little mycotoxin
testing, although they have the
capability. And one laboratory
has found little or no vomito
xin, but lots of aflatoxin
results that are questionable at
uesi.
What To Do
If You Have
Mycotoxin Contamination
1. For aflatoxin, one decon-
Good News
Travels Fast
The 1992 Penn State Commercial Hybrid
Evaluations Are In And DEKALB’S
NEW Hybrids Are Ahead
Of The Pack.
Zone 1 Short Season*:
Yield DEKALB Bust
Aflvaptagg
* For Complete Information Contact Penn State Agronomy Dept.
161.5
165.1
159.0
161.9
134.7
135.4
114.9
116.7
122.3
132.4
128.1
130.3
142.4
128.8
138.0
123.1
125.8
130.9
130.7
124.0
130.0
132.7
135.1
. 134.0
tamination method I’m aware
of is ammoniation. Since this
requires special equipment and
a healthy investment, it’s not
practical for most producers.
2. A relatively new feed
additive, Nova-Sil, has been
effective in reducing the harm
ful effects of aflatoxin. Nova-
Sil is an aluminosilicate that
was developed as a flow agent
to reduce caking in feed. It also
has the effect of absorbing afla
toxin when added at the rate of
10 pounds per ton. The cost is
about $.25 per pound. In exper
iments with young pigs, it
almost completely reversed the
effects of aflatoxin. Unfortu
nately it provides only a margi
nal response against vomitoxin
and zearalenone.
DEKALB DK743
Pioneer 3154
Hytest HTX774B
Northrup King N 8727
Pioneer 3192
Prairie Stream 5X556
NC+ 7507
Doeblers 87XP
Pioneer 3241
Asgrow RXB99
Hardy H 86345
Pioneer 3140
Hardy H 86334
Pioneer 3245
Doeblers 82XP
NC252 X FAB79
Pioneer 3293
Doeblers 86XA-2
Prairie Stream 5X2023
Muncy Chief XA7790
Doeblers 944-3
Prairie Stream SX7O4
27.2
39.6
31.6
Wetsel SI 20
Eastland EBB 6
Muncy Chief XA777
3. Raising the selenium
levels to 2.5 ppm (which is 8
times the legal level) may also
help reduce the effects of afla
toxin. Because the maximum
allowable addition of selenium
is .3 ppm, I do not recommend
feeding 2.5 ppm.
4. Anitox Vana and ammo
nium carbonate are claimed to
reduce the harmful effects of
vomitoxin. However, research
from Canada shows little effect
of either of these materials.
5. Commercial mold inhibi
tors and organic acids (fumaric,
citric, propionic, acetic) do
inhibit mold growth in feed.
However, when mycotoxins are
a problem, they’re usually in
the com before it’s ground and
SILAGE ENTRIES
Silage Performance Of
Late Season Hybrids
Yield T/A Dry Matter T/A
(Turn to Page 27)