Cargill Animal Nutrition and Health has launched a mycotoxin binder, Notox Ultimate Pro, to help pig producers meet the challenges of mycotoxin contamination in feed materials and in straw as effectively as possible.
The company said this new mineral feed has exceptional binding abilities and it can also support growth during periods of challenge.
Cargill’s technical sales specialist Katie Stephen said: “Most producers are aware of the potential damage of mycotoxin contamination, but their complex and varied structure calls for a multi-pronged approach to reducing their impact.”
Notox Ultimate Pro works through four routes; the first being its high binding capacity where in trials that compared 12 different mycotoxins binders, it performed best with a binding efficacy of 97%, well ahead of the others that ranged in efficacy from 90% to 14%.
Ms Stephen added: “It’s second route of action is in supporting the liver function, which is the most efficient mycotoxin detoxifying agent in the body. A challenge by the mycotoxin DON can cause immune suppression and liver damage and it is an especially difficult mycotoxin to bind. Notox Ultimate Pro mycotoxin binder has been shown to minimise liver damage during a challenge.”
It also includes specific health technologies, developed by Cargill, to support the pig’s immune system and antioxidant components to reduce cell damage caused during oxidative stress.
Mycotoxin contamination can happen before or after harvest and during grain storage. Weather conditions, grain storage and feed production practices will affect the risk of any contamination.
“Mycotoxin risks in straw should also not be overlooked either,” added Ms Stephen. “Our recent analysis work in the UK shows that levels in straw can make up significant proportions of the levels ingested.”
Cargill said it tests 32,000 raw materials a year for mycotoxins in Europe alone, and from January to September 2019, it found that 84% of cereal samples were contaminated with DON, and 74% were contaminated with the mycotoxin zearalenone.
The company also runs the Notox control programme to give producers and nutritionists access to the current contamination situation.
