Mycotoxins have profound and detrimental effects on the intestinal microbiota of poultry. One of the primary effects of mycotoxins, particularly deoxynivalenol (DON), is that they slow down the maturation of the intestinal microbiota. This delayed maturation can have far-reaching consequences, as a mature and stable microbiota is essential for strong health and optimal performance.
Anti Mycotoxin Agent Technology Lead
Cargill ANH
The intestinal microbiota plays a crucial role in poultry performance and productivity. By measuring and assessing it, poultry producers can gain a significant advantage, ensuring their flocks perform optimally. Importantly, understanding the microbiota can reveal one of the most significant hidden risks to health and performance: Mycotoxins.
We had the pleasure of speaking with Thomas Pecqueur, MHS Technology Lead at Cargill Animal Nutrition and Health. He shared his insights on the importance of the poultry gut microbiome and the scientific findings on the effects of mycotoxins on poultry. Mr. Pecqueur also discussed the use of anti-mycotoxin agents and provided recommendations for poultry producers to effectively manage these risks. The details are in our interview.
Let’s start with the microbiome. Can you explain the role of the intestinal microbiota in poultry, and why it is important for poultry health and performance?
The intestinal microbiota refers to the complex community of microorganisms that live in the poultry gut. This ecosystem consists primarily of bacteria, but also includes fungi, viruses, and protozoa, collectively forming a diverse and dynamic population that performs several critical functions.
The importance of the microbiota cannot be overstated. Firstly, the microbiota helps break down complex nutrients, making them more accessible for the bird’s metabolism and aiding in nutrient digestion and absorption. They also produce beneficial metabolites like short-chain fatty acids. These processes enhance feed efficiency and contribute to better growth rates.
Secondly, a healthy and balanced gut microbiota is integral to the immune system of poultry. It is the first line of defense, creating a protective barrier against pathogens through competitive exclusion, where beneficial bacteria occupy intestinal niches that might otherwise be colonized by harmful microorganisms.
In addition, the gut microbiota plays a role in the development and maturation of the immune system itself. These protective and developmental functions are crucial for disease resistance and overall health, which directly impacts performance.
This delicate balance can be disrupted by various factors, including dietary changes, stress, antibiotics, and notably, mycotoxins (harmful compounds produced by certain fungi that contaminate feed ingredients). When the microbiota is compromised, we often observe reduced performance, increased susceptibility to disease, and overall poor health outcomes in poultry flocks.
What would be the value of measuring the intestinal microbiota, and do you have a tool to do so?
Measuring the intestinal microbiota provides invaluable insights for poultry producers seeking to optimize bird health and productivity. By monitoring microbial populations, we can:
• Assess gut health status,
• Detect imbalances before clinical symptoms appear,
• Evaluate the effectiveness of feed solutions or interventions, and
• Identify potential connections between specific microbial profiles and performance outcomes.
This information allows producers to make data-driven decisions about nutrition, management practices, and health interventions.
To facilitate this critical assessment, our company has developed Galleon™ – a unique microbiome assessment platform specifically designed for poultry. This innovative tool analyzes the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota, providing comprehensive profiles that reflect intestinal health. Thanks to the immense research done to develop Galleon™, we have observed that broiler gut microbiota maturation is linked to flock performance (Figure 1). High-performing flocks see a sharp decrease in Proteobacteria in the first days of broiler age, while short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria gradually increase.
In contrast, lower-performing flocks maintain high Proteobacteria levels, with only slight increases in SCFA-producing bacteria.
Moreover, Galleon™ enables us to track how various factors, including mycotoxin exposure, affect the microbiome over time, and helps validate the effectiveness of interventions such as anti-mycotoxin agents. By translating complex microbial data into actionable insights, Galleon™ represents a significant advancement in precision poultry nutrition and health management.
You mentioned that the microbiome can be influenced by several factors, including mycotoxins. What effects do mycotoxins specifically have on the intestinal microbiota of poultry?
Mycotoxins have profound and detrimental effects on the intestinal microbiota of poultry. One of the primary effects of mycotoxins, particularly deoxynivalenol (DON), is that they slow down the maturation of the intestinal microbiota. This delayed maturation can have far-reaching consequences, as a mature and stable microbiota is essential for strong health and optimal performance.
DON contamination also decreases the overall microbial diversity in the gut. Specifically, it leads to a decrease in beneficial bacterial populations which play critical roles in maintaining gut health through competitive exclusion, pathogen inhibition, and immune modulation. Simultaneously, mycotoxins may promote the proliferation of potentially harmful bacteria. This imbalance in microbial populations, known as dysbiosis, can disrupt the delicate ecological balance within the gut, leading to altered fermentation patterns, reduced production of beneficial metabolites, and impaired nutrient utilization.
Finally, when birds consume mycotoxin-contaminated feed, these compounds can directly damage epithelial cells, compromising gut barrier integrity and creating an environment conducive to dysbiosis. These effects collectively demonstrate that DON and other mycotoxins can significantly disrupt the delicate balance of the intestinal microbiota in poultry. This disruption can lead to reduced nutrient absorption, weakened immune responses, and overall decreased health and performance.
Can you share any trial results that illustrate the impact of mycotoxins on the microbiota?
Our recent in-vivo trial investigating the effects of deoxynivalenol (DON) on poultry provided compelling evidence of disruption to the intestinal microbiota caused by mycotoxins.
Birds were exposed to either an uncontaminated diet (NC) or to feed contaminated with 8.5ppm of DON (PC). The results showed that DON contamination led to significant performance decreases, including reduced body weight compared to control group (Figure 2). We also utilized Galleon™, which allowed for a comprehensive assessment of the intestinal microbiota.
We observed that DON markedly impaired the natural maturation process of the intestinal microbiome, which is essential for developing robust gut health and optimal performance.
Figure 3 shows vectors representing the microbiota profile of the treatments, overlaid on bacteria clusters. At 28 days, the negative control (NC – without DON in the feed) and the positive control (PC – with 8.5 ppm DON in the feed) were on opposite sides of the plot.
The negative control was linked to SCFA-producing bacteria (Ruminococcus, Lachnospiraceae), while the positive control was associated with proteolytic bacteria (Yersinia enterocolitica, Clostridium botulinum). As mentioned earlier (Figure 1), these results clearly indicate that DON exposure slowed intestinal microbiota maturation and made the microbiota profile resemble those of low-performing flocks.
The mycotoxin challenge resulted in a measurable delay in the establishment of a diverse, stable microbial community. Furthermore, our data revealed specific shifts in bacterial populations, with DON exposure leading to a notable increase in detrimental bacterial groups like Campylobacter jejuni while simultaneously reducing beneficial bacterial populations such as Lactobacillus salivarius (Figure 4) and other commensal species that support intestinal health.
This disruption to the microbial balance correlated directly with the observed performance deficits, establishing a clear link between mycotoxin exposure, microbiota dysbiosis, and compromised poultry health and productivity. These findings underscore the importance of monitoring and managing mycotoxin risk as well as assessing the microbiome as part of a comprehensive approach to optimizing gut health in poultry production systems.
What have your trials revealed about the effectiveness of anti-mycotoxin agents in mitigating the effects of mycotoxins on the microbiota?
Our trial also demonstrated that not all anti-mycotoxin agents (AMAs) are equally effective against mycotoxins, particularly DON.
We evaluated multiple AMAs and found significant variations in their ability to protect the intestinal microbiota from mycotoxin-induced disruption. Encouragingly, we discovered that some AMAs, like Notox™ AMA, showed significant benefits and improved microbiota maturation, restoring favorable microbial profiles in birds fed DON-contaminated diets, and bringing the gut ecosystem closer to that observed in healthy animals.
Importantly, we identified a positive correlation between an AMA’s effect on microbiota composition and its impact on bird performance, suggesting that microbiota protection represents a key mechanism through which AMAs mitigate mycotoxicosis. Of the AMAs tested, the most beneficial, Notox™ AMA, successfully reduced the prevalence of harmful bacterial groups that proliferate under mycotoxin challenge while supporting the recovery of beneficial bacterial populations that typically decline with mycotoxin exposure. These findings highlight the importance of selecting scientifically validated AMAs that have demonstrated specific efficacy against the mycotoxins present in a given production system.
Mycotoxin risk clearly must be managed. Do you have any general recommendations to help poultry farmers effectively mitigate the effects of mycotoxins on their flock’s health and performance?
Implementing a rigorous control plan for raw materials is key to effective mycotoxin management.
Conducting comprehensive mycotoxin analyses on feed ingredients before production is strongly recommended. Utilizing Cargill’s mycotoxin analysis database, which contains over 400,000 results for 40+ countries and all major animal nutrition ingredients, can help optimize this control plan. This daily-updated database provides valuable information on the evolving contamination of key raw materials, enabling risk assessment and informed sourcing decisions. This proactive approach allows for strategic ingredient selection to minimize overall mycotoxin load.
However, mycotoxin contamination is almost inevitable. It is therefore crucial to be able to quantify the impact of mycotoxin contamination. To do this, Cargill offers a science-based impact calculator that uses the level of mycotoxin contamination to estimate the loss of performance and the financial impacts of mycotoxins. This tool is a significant step forward in implementing the right solutions, as it also provides ROI and the financial net benefit of using the appropriate Notox™ AMA.
When contamination is unavoidable and performance impacts are significant, incorporating a well-developed anti-mycotoxin agent is pivotal. However, it is essential to select an AMA validated against the specific mycotoxins present and administer it at the appropriate dosage for optimal efficacy, as not all solutions offer equal protection, particularly against challenging mycotoxins like DON.
Additionally, utilizing microbiome assessment platforms like Galleon™ can help monitor gut health and evaluate the effectiveness of mycotoxin management strategies in real-time. This integrated approach of combining analytical tools, the impact calculator, proven AMA solutions, and specialized expertise, provides a comprehensive framework for protecting poultry flocks from the performance-limiting and health-damaging effects of mycotoxins, supporting sustainable production and profitability.
Finally, what would you like to add?
We encourage anyone who wants to manage their mycotoxin risks in a proven way to reach out to us today.
I would also like to remind that Notox™ is only approved for use in certain geographies, end uses, and/or at certain usage levels. Readers who would like to learn more information on specific products in their location can reach out to their local Cargill animal nutrition representative.
About Thomas Pecqueur
Thomas Pecqueur is part of the global Micronutrition & Health Solution team in Cargill Animal Nutrition. Pecqueur is responsible of enhancing current product offerings, designing innovative anti-mycotoxin solutions, and delivering mycotoxins technical training to Cargill customers and employees, all aimed at optimizing customer intimacy. Originally from France, Thomas Pecqueur lives in Canada and has a Master of Science in Agronomy with a specialization in animal production and nutrition. He joined Provimi/Cargill in 2009 in France as a multi-species nutritionist, focusing on optimizing formulations for premixes and minerals. Pecqueur later moved to Canada to join the ruminant technical team, where he led the development of internal ration balancing software and supported the sales team with training, troubleshooting, and on-farm tools.
