Mycotoxin contamination can be a concern for producers resulting from adverse health issues in livestock and significant financial losses in the agriculture sector. Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a significant mycotoxin, contaminating common feed grains, such as wheat, barley and corn. Mitigation strategies for DON are limited in terms of binding efficiency, biosafety, and cost-effectiveness. This study investigated the potential application of nanotechnology to mitigate DON contamination in grains. Nanomaterials have been used to address contaminants in air, soil, and water due to their unique physical and chemical properties. Three nanomaterials were identified and selected for testing: chitosan polymeric nanoparticles (CS), montmorillonite nanocomposites (MN), and magnetic graphene oxide (MGO). It was determined that MGO had the greatest potential for mitigating DON contamination in grains (wheat).
In-barn feeding trials (nursery pigs) were conducted to determine the effectiveness of MGO nanoparticles in mitigating DON in swine diets and their effect on pig performance. Results showed that feeding pigs with MGO-treated diets had no adverse impact on their growth performance, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention. Economic analysis revealed using MGO to mitigate DON-contaminated feed is currently not viable due to the high cost of MGO. This could be significantly reduced by developing our own MGO materials or combining MGO nanotechnology with other environmental mitigation techniques such as photocatalytic degradation, which has been utilized to remove various environmental pollutants more effectively and at lower operational costs. Follow up research involving long-term feeding of MGO-treated diets to nursery and grower-finisher pigs with higher DON levels (more than 3 – 5 ppm) is recommended to fully assess the overall impact of this technology in mitigating mycotoxin contamination in diets as well as on the environment.
