Evaluation of Deoxynivalenol Intake and a Commercial Adsorbent of Mycotoxins in Grazing Dairy Cows

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of deoxynivalenol (DON) intake and a mycotoxin adsorbent on dairy cow performance, 32 cows were assigned to the following treatments in a randomized complete block design for nine weeks: daily allowance of 6 kg/cow of a concentrate with a) 0, b) 2.5, c) 5.0 and d) 5.0 ppm of DON plus 0.1% of a mycotoxin adsorbent, which delivered 0, 15, 30 and 30 mg of DON/day, respectively. Every cow was daily offered with the same quantity of pastures and corn silage, and concentrates were designed to be isoenergetic and isoproteic. Concentrate intake and milk yield did not differ among treat-ments, but a daily allowance of 30 mg of DON without adsorbent reduced milk fat,yield, and 4 % fat-corrected milk (FCM) yield, and increased milk somatic cell count (SCC). The inclusion of an adsorbent in the concentrate with 5.0 ppm of DON avoided the increase in SCC and the reduction in FCM yield. There was no effect of DON on body weight, condition score change, or plasma concentration of aspartate aminotransferase and gamma glutamyl transferase. Under grazing conditions, a daily intake of DON higher than 14 mg/cow reduced dairy cow performance, which was avoided through the inclusion of a commercial mycotoxin adsorbent.