LEXINGTON, Ky. — Rapid tests to identify mycotoxins in the field are available.
An integrated system called Raptor from Neogen Corp. can identify mycotoxin contamination on the farm or at a feed mill within minutes. The system can show if aflatoxin, ochratoxin, zearalenone, DON, T2/HT-2 toxins and fumonisin are present.
The system was demonstrated at the recent Alltech international conference held in Lexington.
Mycotoxins are chemical substances found in fungi and can threaten animal health and crops.
“When we think about identification, time is money,” said Nick Adams of Alltech.
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Knowing if contamination is present can aid decisions to mitigate the problem in the early stages.
Alltech has developed the Rapiread system that can test for contaminants in the field and using a new app, information can be entered to help identify the type of mycotoxin and risk level.
“Field tests can be done almost in real time as long as you are hooked up to the internet,” Adams said.
The sample can be tested in the field, feed mill or laboratory and the data goes to the cloud and can be accessed through logging into the portal. A large database has been created to show contamination patterns by sample, regions, individual companies to make it relevant. The goal is to build contamination maps around the world, particularly at harvest.
“When we bring in a new harvest, that risk related to those grains will always be dependent on growing season that we have just been through,” Adams said.
“Understanding the risk from a new harvest is always important,” he said.
While the test procedures seem simple, training is important to collect, prepare and analyze samples.
“As part of this system, it is important to the users to go through training because part of the training is around how to take a good sample. The data is only as good as the sample,” said Adams.
