Current approaches to the ongoing challenges of mycotoxins in poultry diets: Understanding and combating mycotoxins for sustainable poultry production

Abstract

The poultry industry continues to expand, addressing mycotoxin contamination in feed becomes compulsory. Mycotoxins pose a significant threat to poultry health as they contaminate both pre- and post-harvest crops. The co-occurrence of multiple mycotoxins decreases individual tolerance levels, even at subclinical levels, which can be considered to increase the pathology of individual mycotoxins in poultry. Mycotoxin interactions within the animal system are mainly additive in nature. The ultimate goal of achieving sustainable poultry production is to reduce the mycotoxin load in feed and its impact on downstream poultry food safety. This poultry science association annual conference symposium paper focuses on understanding the complex interactions among mycotoxins, notably fumonisins, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, and aflatoxin, and their cumulative effects on poultry health. The co-occurrence of multiple mycotoxins in poultry feed ingredients exacerbates their effects on each other and impacts chicken production performance and health, necessitating a reevaluation of current mitigation strategies. Key discussions included the cascading effects of feed safety and mycotoxin interactions impacting poultry health, including intestinal epithelial barrier function, immunosuppression, and gut microbiome composition, leading to necrotic enteritis and foodborne pathogen contamination. Challenges faced by the poultry industry, such as the limited efficacy of traditional mycotoxin binders against fumonisins and deoxynivalenol, were discussed. The urgent need for real-time biomarkers to detect subclinical mycotoxicity was emphasized. Additionally, potential intervention strategies, including probiotics, mycotoxin deactivating enzymes, and mycotoxin binders, were discussed to mitigate mycotoxin impacts in poultry.