Mycotoxins Quo Vadis? Why Feed Additives?

Description

About The Book

Mycotoxins – Quo Vadis? Why feed additives? is a practical guide to feed management, with a practical focus on combatting the threat of mycotoxins.
Topics covered include:

• The Threat of Mycotoxins
• The Importance of Feed Additives and Their Classification
• Pragmatism and Perseverance in the Fight Against Mycotoxins
• Research Findings on the Deactivation of Mycotoxins and Detoxification in Broiler Feed

The book is targeted at students in the fields of Animal Science (Poultry science, Animal nutrition, Feed additives and contaminants, HACCP in the feed industry), Food safety, Veterinary medicine (Toxicology and mycotoxicology, Pathological physiology, Morphopathology etc.), at the BSc, MSc and PhD levels, as well as to professionals and farmers within poultry farming, crop production and feed manufacturing. Although the contents of the book are based on research and field experiences/farm experiments in Europe, their findings are thoroughly relevant and applicable to students and researchers all over the world.

About The Authors

The authors are PhD-holders, two of them are academic staff. The main author is involved in feed additives research and usage.

Background & Further Information

The development of fungi in cereal crops as well as in warehouses leads to losses in grain yields and nutritional qualities and the occurrence of mycotoxins. As secondary toxic metabolites, mycotoxins are extremely harmful to both humans and animals, and can have a hugely adverse economic impact on animal performance. For this reason, keeping the development of molds under control is essential to maintaining the nutritional value of cereals and avoiding the contamination of feed with mycotoxins. In spite of the various preventive measures taken to ensure mycotoxin-free feed, the raw materials used to produce complete feed can be (easily?) contaminated. A series of feed additives, generically known as mycotoxin inhibitors, mycotoxin ligands or detoxification agents may successfully counteract the negative effects of mycotoxins on the immune system, animal production and food safety.
This book includes a brief presentation of the main categories of feed additives used in animal feed with a focus on poultry feed. Special attention is given to understanding the mechanisms involved in the intoxication of feed with fungal metabolites as well as combating their undesirable effects on the animals? productive performances. The book also reveals practical studies based on five extended trials on broiler chickens given naturally or experimentally contaminated feed. These widely applicable studies were carried out both in practical farm settings as well as under laboratory conditions, and in the sectors of commercial production, education and research. The results, as revealed in this book, speak volumes for themselves.