Frequency and levels of regulated and emerging mycotoxins in silage in Poland

Abstract

In this study, 120 silage samples collected in 2015 from farms in Poland were analysed by a multimycotoxin method based on liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. The study included toxins which are regulated within the European Union (aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins, T-2/HT-2 toxins, ochratoxin A and zearalenone) and non-regulated mycotoxins (enniatins, beauvericin, 8-ketotrichothecenes, sterigmatocystin, zearalenone derivatives). All silage samples were positive for at least one mycotoxin, and 61% of samples contained five or more mycotoxins simultaneously. The most frequently detected toxins were deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, zearalenone, enniatins and beauvericin, although the levels of these toxins were relatively low. The mean concentration of deoxynivalenol and zearalenon was 406 and 80.6 μg/kg, respectively, and two toxins were positive-correlated. This is the first study that provides information about emerging mycotoxins contaminating silage in Poland.

Mycotoxins occurrence and fungal populations in different types of silages for dairy cows in Spain

“…A high number of researches have pointed out the absence of AFs in maize silage samples (Dagnac et al, 2016;Driehuis et al, 2008b;Dzuman et al, 2014;R. Kosicki et al, 2016;Panasiuk et al, 2019;Van Pamel et al, 2011;Zachariasova et al, 2014). On the other hand, in agreement with our results, several authors have detected AFs in a low number of maize silage samples and in low concentrations (Garon et al, 2006;Keller et al, 2013;Richard et al, 2009;Schmidt et al, 2015).…”

“…Similar values were found by Schmidt et al (2015), who reported a mean FB 1 concentration of 369 µg/kg in a range between 124 and 2310 µg/kg. Panasiuk et al (2019) reported an incidence of 37% of FB 1positive samples, but with lower values of toxin, being 73.5 µg/kg the mean and 379 µg/kg the highest concentration found. However, these toxins are usually detected in silage samples less frequently than DON and ZEN (Driehuis et al, 2008b;Panasiuk et al, 2019;.…”

“…Driehuis et al (2008b) reported a mean concentration of DON of 854 µg/kg and a maximum concentration of 3142 µg/kg. In Poland, Kosicki et al (2016) and Panasiuk et al (2019) also detected high levels of DON, with mean values of 633 and 447 µg/kg and maximum levels of 7860 and 4347 µg/kg, respectively. Cogan et al (2017) in Ireland, detected DON in maize silages in an average concentration of 603 µg/kg and 7111 µg/kg as the maximum concentration.…”

“…It has been stated that the incidence and level of AFs are relatively low in comparison with other mycotoxin in well-preserved silages (Ogunade et al, 2018). In addition, the incidence of AFs in silages in Europe has been rarely reported (Panasiuk et al, 2019), since their presence is usually associated with geographical regions with tropical or sub-tropical climate (Driehuis et al, 2008b).…”

Retrospective and Prospective Look at Aflatoxin Research and Development from a Practical Standpoint

“…Apart from the putative or confirmed toxicity of these compounds, they may act in synergy to increase toxicity of the classical mycotoxins, including aflatoxins. Co-occurrence of emerging and modified/masked mycotoxins with regulated mycotoxins is a common phenomenon in agricultural commodities; and a typical commodity contains 7 to 75 different mycotoxins, with an average of 30[94,[96][97]. Failure to detect all mycotoxins and their metabolites in food and feed may result in misdiagnosing mycotoxicoses or underestimating the associated health risks[97].From the about 18 known types of aflatoxins, only AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, and AFM1 are presently regulated in some commodities in a number of countries; and they are analyzed by conventional techniques.…”