Mycotoxins in horse feed.

摘要

A total of 62 samples of commercial horse feed preparations (complementary feeds) containing cereal mixtures ("muesli" or mash, n=39; pelleted feeds, n=12), and plain horse feed grains (maize, n=5; oats, n=4; barley, n=2) were purchased from 21 different producers/distributors from the German market. All samples were analysed by competitive enzyme immunoassays (EIA) for six different mycotoxins (mycotoxin groups). Analytes (detection limit, mean recovery) were: deoxynivalenol (DON, 10 micro g/kg, 84%), zearalenone (ZEA, 5 micro g/kg, 93%), fumonisin B₁ (FB₁, 2 micro g/kg, 113%), T-2 toxin (T-2, 0.1 micro g/kg, 71%), sum of T-2+HT-2 toxin (T-2/HT2, 0.2 micro g/kg, 97%), ochratoxin A (OTA, 0.2 micro g/kg, 67%), and total ergot alkaloids (Generic Ergot Alkaloids "GEA", 30 micro g/kg, 132%). All samples contained DON (16-4,900 micro g/kg, median 220 micro g/kg), T-2/HT-2 (0.8-230 micro g/kg, median 24 micro g/kg), and T-2 (0.3-91 micro g/kg, median 7 micro g/kg). ZEA was detected in 98% of the samples (7-310 micro g/kg, median 61 micro g/kg). Most samples (94%) were positive for FB₁ (2-2,200 micro g/kg, median 27 micro g/kg). Ergot alkaloids were detected in 61% of samples (28-1,200 micro g/kg, median 97 micro g/kg), OTA was found in 42% of samples (0.2-4 micro g/kg, median 0.35 micro g/kg). The results demonstrate that a co-contamination with several mycotoxins is very common in commercial horse feed from the German market. The toxin concentrations were in most cases well below the levels which are usually considered as critical or even toxic. The highest mycotoxin concentrations were mostly found in single-grain cereal feed: the maximum values for DON and FB₁ were found in maize, the highest T-2/HT-2 toxin concentrations were found in oats, and the highest concentration of ergot alkaloids was found in barley. In composed feeds, no correlation between cereal composition and mycotoxin levels could be found.