Mycotoxin sequestering agent: Impact on health and performance of dairy cows and efficacy in reducing AFM residues in milk.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the exposure to a diet naturally contaminated with mycotoxins on lactation performance, animal health, and the ability to sequester agents (SA) to reduce the human exposure to AFM. Sixty healthy lactating Holstein cows were randomly assigned to two groups: naturally contaminated diet without and with the addition of a SA (20 g/cow/d AntitoxCooPil® -60% zeolite-40% cell wall-). Each cow was monitored throughout lactation. The concentration of aflatoxin B (AFB) in feed and M (AFM) in milk, health status, and productive and reproductive parameters were measured. AFB concentration in feed was very low (2.31 μg/kgDM). The addition of SA reduced the milk AFM concentrations (0.016 vs. 0.008 μg/kg) and transfer rates (2.19 vs. 0.77%). No differences were observed in health status, production and reproduction performance. The inclusion of SA in the diet of dairy cows reduce the risk in the most susceptible population.