Project

Influence of Fusarium toxins on intestinal health of the pig in the context of the development of control measures

Code
179V6708
Duration
01 October 2008 → 30 September 2012
Funding
Regional and community funding: IWT/VLAIO
Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • Animal biology
  • Agricultural and food sciences
    • Veterinary medicine
    • Other veterinary sciences
    • Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences
Keywords
intestinal health pig
 
Project description

Contamination of pig feed with Fusarium toxins is common. Although there is strong evidence that these mycotoxins intestinal health and consequently can affect the performance of pigs, the effect of low, relevant concentrations of mycotoxins in practice is not known. Preliminary tests have shown that deoxynivalenol affects the intestinal barrier and even germ-host interactions affect Salmonella Typhimurium at very low concentrations. This would mean that food which contains deoxynivalenol hand may interfere with the absorption of foreign substances such as mycotoxins co-contaminants and drugs and also may interfere with existing control measures to keep Salmonella in the pig population. The impact of control measures against mycotoxins in feed for pigs is unclear. Two interesting options are the use of mycotoxin binding products and probiotic bacterial strains capable of inactivating the toxins. It is the aim of this project to 1) to gain insight on the effect of low concentrations of the Fusarium toxins deoxynivalenol, T-2 toxin, zearalenone and fumonisins B1 in pig feed in the gut health of the animals, and 2) to investigate the influence of these toxins on the course of a Salmonella typhimurium infection in the pig. Subsequently, binding products will be determined whether mycotoxin can counteract the effects of the toxins to the gut health and / or the course of a Salmonella Typhimurium infection. Finally, will be isolated from pig manure bacterial strains capable of inactivating its trichothecenes. Among these strains of bacteria will be determined whether they are able to counteract the effects of the toxins to the gut health and / or the course of a Salmonella Typhimurium infection.