Response of growing swine to dietary exposure to pure fumonisin B₁ during an eight‐week period: Growth and clinical parameters

Abstract

Consumption of corn or corn-based products contaminated with Fusarium moniliforme/fumonisins has been associated with a variety of animal and human diseases and is a major food/feed safety issue. This study focused on the clinical toxicity and performance parameters in growing swing exposed to low to moderate levels of pure fumonisin B1 (FB.) for 8 weeks. Male (castrated) and female pigs were fed diets containing 0,0.1,1.0, and 10 mg FB1/kg diet (ppm). Weight gains and feed consumption were measured weekly. Blood samples were collected throughout the study, and various clinical and hematological parameters were measured. Because fumonisins are potent inhibitors of sphingolipid biosynthesis, sphinganine and sphingosine concentrations were determined in the liver, lung, and kidney. Organ weights and carcass quality were measured at the end of the trial. In general, male pigs were more adversely affected by FB1 in the diet than females. The average daily gain for males decreased by 8% for pigs fed 1.0 ppm and by 11% at 10.0 ppm, when compared to the control (0 ppm). Males fed 0.1 ppm showed an erratic growth pattern during the first 5 weeks of the experiment. Feed consumption for the same animals was somewhat higher than that of the controls during each of the first 4 weeks but thereafter was 6-7% lower each week as compared to controls. Female pigs fed FB1-diets showed a general enhancement of feed consumption until week 4. Among clinical chemistry parameters, cholesterol increased in males for the 1.0 and 10.0 ppm diets as compared to controls after 2 weeks, while the levels in both sexes were elevated for the 1.0 ppm diet only by the end of the experiment. Serum liver enzyme concentrations were altered during week 2 only. Changes were observed in the weight of the pancreas and adrenals for male pigs fed FB1 diets as compared to controls. The free sphinganine to free sphingosine ratio (biomarker of exposure in FB1-consuming animals) increased in all three organs for the 10 ppm diet, regardless of sex. The study indicated that FB1 can cause different effects at each dose level, at concentrations as low as 0.1 ppm (showing erratic growth) followed by a reduced growth and biochemical abnormalities in blood (1.0 ppm) and sphingolipid alterations in tissues (10.0 ppm). Some of these effects occurred below the exposure level that caused alteration in sphingolipid metabolism.

Fusarium mycotoxins: a review of global implications for animal health, welfare and productivity

“…In other pigs, the formation of papillary downgrowths of the stratum basale of the distal oesophageal mucosa were observed. Although incidence of PPE has not been reported in other studies (Rotter et al, 1996), increased Sa : So ratios have been observed with fumonisin levels of 10 mg/kg diet. At lower fumonisin levels, erratic feed intake and growth patterns and increased carcass fat content may also occur (Table 4).…”

“…The choice of performance and biochemical criteria may also influence selection of tolerance values. For example, Rotter et al (1996) suggested that for FB 1 erratic growth occurred in growing pigs at levels as low as 0.1 mg/kg diet, followed by reduced growth and biochemical abnormalities in blood at 1 mg/kg diet. If sphingolipid aberration in tissues are used as the criterion, then changes would not occur until diets contained 10 mg FB 1 /kg.…”

Meta-analytical study of productive and nutritional interactions of mycotoxins in growing pigs

“…In challenged pigs, the clinical and immunological parameters can also be influenced by sex (Cote et al, 1985;Rotter et al, 1996;Marin et al, 2006). Some authors suggest that the greater susceptibility of males would be related to differences in the mycotoxin hepatic metabolism (Gurtoo and Motycka, 1976;Castegnaro et al, 1998), although this hypothesis needs to be confirmed.…”

Feed exposure to FB1 can aggravate pneumonic damages in pigs provoked by P. multocid a

“…Such clinical signs can develop only after exposure to very high doses of FB 1 such as 100-300 ppm (Harrison et al, 1990;Haschek et al, 1992). However, other studies revealed that dietary exposure of pigs to significantly lower feed levels of FB 1 such as 1-10 ppm, can provoke a partial decrease in body weight gain in the first 4 weeks of life, which can be compensated in a later stage (Rotter et al, 1996). In this regard, our studies support the observations of the authors who observed no visible clinical signs and significant differences in the body weight of the pigs exposed to high levels FB 1 , but it should be taken into account that our levels of FB 1 were significantly lower than the levels used by these authors .…”