ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE August 2022 27 harvesting corn that has not yet even tasselled, just to capture some forage. Adding to pressure on commodity availability, some crop producers have cut back on applications of fertilizers and pesticides to try and reduce their input bills and are prepared to sacrifice a certain yield level in return. In some regions, availability of these inputs has been the limiting factor, not price. ARE THERE ANY POSITIVE SIGNS IN THE CROP MARKETS? The two countries faring better than in previous years are Brazil and Canada. Although still below the five-year average, Canadian output is expected to be up to 30% higher than last year if current growing conditions continue. In Brazil, second crop corn is performing quite well so far and may help replenish some of the shortfall there. Equally, as talks continue to try and reopen ports and grain shipping from Ukraine, progress here may provide some relief to those managing price and availability of key commodities. THE MYCOTOXIN RISK IN LOWER QUALITY INGREDIENTS Amid such volatility, higher ingredient prices may not be the only area that feed and livestock producers should be concerned about. As the industry may be forced to use older stock grains that have been in storage for a long period, quality issues can arise, including the presence of mycotoxins that have developed during storage. Additionally, due to both price and availability of parent grains, producers are looking to include a greater level of cereal byproducts in their animal diets. Like old stock grains, the mycotoxin risk attached to the use of byproducts is elevated. “When feeding large amounts of byproducts to animals, a trend that is common during periods of high material prices, we need to understand that there can be a tremendous level of variability in the quality of these feedstuffs,” commented Dr. Luke Miller, a ruminant technical support specialist at Alltech. “Byproducts tend to contain a large number of different types of mycotoxins from the Fusarium, Penicillium, Aspergillus or Claviceps families.” When byproducts from crops such as corn and wheat are produced, the mycotoxin risk is amplified as the mycotoxin presence contained in the parent grain is now concentrated into a lesser mass. This contrast in mycotoxin risk was very evident in a recent analysis of aquaculture feed ingredients carried out by Alltech. When Alltech’s Risk Equivalent Quantity (REQ) metric was applied to wheat
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