Transmission of T-2 Toxin into Bovine and Porcine Milk

Abstract

A pregnant Holstein cow (3rd trimester) was intubated with 182 mg of T-2, produced by Fusarium sp, for 15 consecutive days. This amount of toxin corresponds to a concentration in the feed of 50 ppm (from consumption of 3.6 kg grain-type ration/day). Milk samples (approximately 1 l) were taken on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 10th and 12th day of T-2 intubation and were analyzed specifically for T-2 toxin by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. All samples except those collected on the 4th and 8th days of intubation contained T-2 toxin in concentrations ranging from 10-160 ppb (10-160 ng/g of milk). A crossbred sow was given T-2 toxin in the feed at 12 ppm for 220 days. Six days after parturition a milk sample (58 g) contained 76 ppb of T-2 toxin. The minimum T-2 concentrations detectable by the spectometry in the selected ion monitoring mode and the extraction procedures described, lie between 5-10 ppb for cow''s milk and 25-35 ppb for sow''S milk. The amounts of T-2 administered and the duration of exposure of these animals to the toxin were unusually high and afforded detectable quantities in the milk. At concentrations reportedly found in nature (2 ppm in the feed or 1/25 of the amounts administered in this experiment) the low levels of toxin which probably would be in the milk would be undetectable.