Mycophenolic Acid in Silage

摘要

We examined 233 silage samples and found that molds were present in 206 samples with counts between 1 × 103 and 8.9 × 107 (mean, 4.7 × 106) CFU/g. Mycophenolic acid, a metabolite of Penicillium roqueforti, was detected by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in 74 (32%) of these samples at levels ranging from 20 to 35,000 (mean, 1,400) μg/kg. This compound has well-known immunosuppressive properties, so feeding with contaminated silage may promote the development of infectious diseases in livestock.