PROJECT OVERVIEW

Removal of Deoxynivalenol (DON; vomitoxin) from Barley Intended for End-Use as Swine Feed

Dr. James House

Department of Animal Science

University of Manitoba

(204) 474-9523

ARDI Project:

Total Approved:

Date Approved:

#00-383

$20,000

April 9, 2001

The continuing and expanding epidemic of Fusarium head blight in Manitoba and into eastern Saskatchewan has resulted in barley that commonly contains the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON).  This renders local barley unacceptable to the swine producers as the consumption of DON reduces pig performance, even though feed barley is highly desirable in providing a hard fat which is sought after by the packing industry.  The feed industry has set a maximum tolerable level of 0.5 ppm of DON in swine diets, therefore, heavily contaminated grains (>0.5 ppm DON) will not be used for making swine feed.  Contaminated barley and other cereal grains can be safely fed to ruminant animals and poultry, but alternative strategies must be employed in order to use these grains for swine feed.  Currently, much of the contaminated grain is shipped to Alberta and DON-free Alberta feed barley is being bought at a premium price, up to $15/T higher than Manitoba barley, and is being shipped to Manitoba at costs up to $25/T.  Thus, Manitoba pork producers and feed mills, unable to use local barley, are paying up to $40/T extra.  This strategy is reducing the competitive advantage concerning the low feed costs available in the province of Manitoba. 

The long-term solution to this predicament involves breeding barley for Fusarium resistance and getting the new seed to producers in quantity.  Since this solution may be several years away, Manitoba producers are seeking a more immediate answer to their problems.  Therefore, the objective of this project is to yield cost-effective large-scale washing and/or physical procedures to reduce DON in Fusarium contaminated barley to below 0.5 ppm, and to ensure that the end product is nutritious and safe in all respects as swine feed.  In order to do this, quantities of Fusarium contaminated barley (DON = 3-5 ppm) will be obtained and sampled to get representative sub-samples for DON assays.  Laboratory-scale wet processing (washing/soaking) and physical (sieving/dehulling) methods will be developed and the efficiency of DON removal assessed.  Statistical sampling techniques will be used to ensure reproducibility of the methods and to identify candidates for scale-up strategies.  In addition, a critical feeding study will be done that assesses the impact of graded levels of vomitoxin on the net performance (weight gain, feed efficiency, carcass merit) of hogs fed contaminated barley throughout the grower-finisher period.  The feeding trial will assess the impact of graded levels of vomitoxin (0, 1 & 2 ppm - levels commonly observed in locally-grown grains) on the growth and feed efficiency of pigs taken from 20 kg to market weight (110 kg).  This will provide concrete data to support a cut-off value for vomitoxin for pigs that will be used in the assessment criteria for the determination of candidate decontamination strategies.

Manitoba Pork Council is also providing support to this project.

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