Mycotoxin contaminations in commercially used haylage and silage

Improvement of sanitary control of grass fodder, taking into account the whole variety of factors that have a negative impact on the animal, is the most important task of agricultural science. In the present study, we investigated mycotoxin contamination of hayage and silage by the method of indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In a survey of 30 commercial feed batches from the livestock farms located in the central regions of the European Russia, namely Bryanskya, Lipetskaya, Moskovskaya, Smolenskaya and Tverskaya provinces, a multiple contamination pattern was shown. In all the samples eight or more mycotoxins were found, and more than half of samples contained 14-15 components. Alternariol was found in all samples of the both types of feeds in amounts from 50 to 1260 mg/kg, while aflatoxin В 1 ochratoxin A, citrinin and ergot alkaloids had extensive distribution with low intensity. In haylage with high incidence of all analyzed fusariotoxins, mass concentration of Т-2 toxin was the lowest (4 to 30 mg/kg), and the levels of diacetoxyscirpenol, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone and fumonisins were in the range of 100-1000 mg/kg. Sterigmatocystin, emodin, cyclopiazonic and mycophenolic acids, PR-toxin occurred everywhere, wherein emodin, cyclopiazonic acid and PR-toxin often present in amounts up to 1000 mg/kg. Silage prepared mainly from corn grass, with frequent detection of T-2 toxin and deoxynivalenol in significant content (to 350 and 2820 mg/kg, respectively) revealed similarities with corn grain from the center of European Russia. Sterigmatocystin and emodin were detected in all silage samples, whereas PR-toxin, cyclopiazonic and mycophenolic acids were slightly inferior to them in frequency. Levels of accumulation of these mycotoxins were lower than those found in silage, and for mycophenolic acid they generally remained the same. A botanical composition of herbage and features of toxin-producing fungi complexes, accompanying the growing season and the subsequent process of fermentation, are discussed among possible reasons for the differences in mycotoxin contamination of haylage and silage.