74 min listen
Wonderful World of Fungal Toxins
ratings:
Length:
82 minutes
Released:
Jun 21, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Guests: Dr. Duarte Diaz, University of Arizona; Dr. Lon Whitlow, North Carolina State UniversityThere are a few things present in almost all environments and one of them is mold. Today on the Real Science Exchange we talk about molds and toxins in agriculture and the opportunity they have to impact the health and profitability of animals and crops. Dr. Diaz begins by saying molds that produce toxins will grow in a building off of air particles because they are pretty adaptable. They can find a way to enter a system and produce toxins. (17:21) Dr. Whitlow mentioned molds cause problems in addition to mycotoxins. As the mold grows, it will use some of the nutrients and the feed will have less nutritional value. In some cases, molds may use individual amino acids, so it could change the amino acid profile. (29:31) Dr. Diaz recommends building a risk assessment model that takes into account the commodities you feed, where they’re coming from and how much of your total diet is made up of this ingredient. You use those data points to decide when to take a sample and see what is being brought in. (38:51)Dr. Whitlow said one of the biggest effects of mycotoxins is suppressing the immune system. Dry cows are already immune suppressed so if you add the mycotoxin on top of that they don’t have any chance of getting started. You’ve got to keep clean feed in front of the dry cows and the calves. Calves don’t have the functional rumen which allows them to destroy mycotoxins. (51:55)Dr. Whitlow emphasizes that for dairy farms management needs to be a big emphasis. Planting and harvesting at the correct time and rotating crops is vital. We know continuous corn will create more mold problems. In addition, follow best management practices for silage making and storage to reduce mold. (1:13:56)Dr. Diaz summarizes by saying he would like to see more work on the identification of biomarkers of exposure. If we are better able to identify exposure to toxins through animal tissues or samples, we would eliminate errors associated with sampling. We would also have a solid diagnostic tool. Ideally, we’d get to a point where we can do diagnostics on-farm. (1:18:37)If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you. Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table. This podcast is sponsored by Balchem Animal Nutrition and Health. This podcast is sponsored by Balchem. All views expressed by the guests are the opinions of those individuals and are not the views of the Balchem, its affiliates or employees.
Released:
Jun 21, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Feeding for Increased Milk Protein Production: The second episode of the Real Science Exchange focuses on feeding for increased milk protein production. The host Scott Sorrell is joined by his co-host Dr. Clay Zimmerman for this round-the-table discussion. Clay brought with him Dr. Mike Van Amburgh from Cornell University and Dr. Buzz Burhans with the Dairy-Tech Group. The two guests bring both the academic and research perspective along with practical on-the-farm reality. The first guest is Dr. Van Amburgh in his role at Cornell University lead the development of CNCPS. The second guest is Dr. Burhans has been an independent consultant for more than 35 years and was one of the first adopters of CNCPS. by Real Science Exchange