Toxin adsorbents
One of the current problems of today is the contamination of grain and leguminous crops with mold fungi, which affects the reduction of feed quality, health and productivity of farm animals and poultry. The product of the vital activity of fungi is mycotoxins, which negatively affect the reduction of the amount of feed eaten by animals. And are also extremely dangerous for the health of animals and poultry, as they have a mutagenic, teratogenic, immunosuppressive effect on the body.
Animals and poultry that consume feed containing affected grain are at risk of reduced productivity, damage to internal organs (liver, kidneys, reproductive system organs), ulcerative stomatitis, epidermal necrosis, etc.
The solution to this problem is the use of toxin adsorbents, which are able to inactivate toxins by binding them and removing them from the body by natural means.
What are mycotoxins?
Mycotoxins are the products of the vital activity of microscopic mold fungi. All mycotoxins are characterized by one common property - the ability to destroy living cells. Mycotoxins are natural contaminants of cereal grains, legumes, sunflower seeds, all vegetables and fruits. They can be formed during the storage of feed. Food ingredients of natural origin are subject to contamination by fungi at various stages, starting from improper field cultivation and ending with mold growth during storage. Mycotoxins produced by these fungi are inactivated in the animal's body by the xenobiotic metabolism system.
How to protect yourself from mycotoxins?
The natural system of protection against foreign substances does not have a narrow specificity and inactivates many foreign substances in the body at different speeds. At the first stage, the substance undergoes oxidation with the addition of a hydroxyl group. The foreign substance becomes water-soluble, the toxicity of the original substance decreases and the formed metabolite is excreted through the kidneys. Or it can enter the second stage of transformations - the conjugation reaction, as a result of which the substance loses its toxicity and is excreted in the urine.
Endogenous detoxification of various mycotoxins occurs at different rates and differs in animals of different species for the same toxin. However, such inactivation can only be said if the content of toxins in the feed does not exceed the maximum permissible values, which can only be controlled in laboratory conditions. In addition, even after the destruction of mold fungi, mycotoxins remain in the feed due to their stability and resistance to heat treatment. Methods of extrusion and granulation of feed are also not effective.
The most widely used method of protecting animals from mycotoxicosis is the use of mycotoxin adsorbents mixed with feed. There are a huge number of different mycotoxins in nature, but they are characterized by a completely different chemical structure. Therefore, the effectiveness of the sorbent is determined by its ability to bind a larger number of toxins with different molecular weights, chemical structure and polarity.
