Feed additive with anti-zearalenone effect to improve reproductive health of pigs

Abstract

Zearalenone (ZEA) is a mycotoxin with estrogenic effects in humans and animals. This mycotoxin affects mostly pigs, causing severe reproductive disorders and economic losses for producers. To develop techniques for detoxification, the ability to adsorb ZEA was evaluated for bacterial precipitates obtained by reactivation and centrifugation of lactobacilli strains isolated from rectal swabs of pigs from Tandil, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The bacterial cultures were incubated, centrifuged, washed and resuspended in contact solution with ZEA. To evaluate the degree of adsorption (%ADS), the remaining mycotoxin was measured in solution by HPLC‐UV. The volume andtypeof initialculturemedium,andthecontactsolutionusedintheadsorptionprocesswere optimized. The strength of the ZEA‐bacteria complex was analyzed by successive rinsing. In every case the bacterial adsorption capacity was higher than 40%, and the final adsorption percentage of the selected strain (Lactobacillus plantarum) was 68.20%. After three rinses the amount of retained ZEA in complex was 15.82% of that originally added. During the lyophilization process, the Lactobacilli were suspended in lactose, skim milk, and ascorbic acid, and were then freeze‐dried. This process resulted in 109 CFU/g in the final powder, and an adsorption percentage of 87.9%. In order to conduct a live test, ZEA concentrate was obtained by incubating Fusarium graminearum strain NRRL 28063 in corn producing only zearalenone. This concentrate was obtained after two extractions, first alkaline and then with chloroform, and contained 6.5 g total of the mycotoxin. Prepuberal gilts were fed a diet containing 1 ppm ZEA for 15 days, resulting in oestrogenic prevention during the first four, which justifies further studies of immunotoxicity.