Innovad regularly organizes classroom and practical sessions from top academics and field experts around the world on mycotoxin management, gut health and coccidiosis. We discuss how the different issues connect together to impact your animal’s performance and how to prevent and solve them.
Assessing mycotoxin exposure through biomarker analysis and biomonitoring
Exposure to mycotoxins, even at low, ‘safe’ levels, has a big impact on animal health and chronic exposure results in reduced flock performance and economic losses. Mycotoxins produce changes in the physiological homeostasis of different organs and induce oxidative stress. Prof. Gunther Anthonissen (Ghent University) covers ‘How mycotoxins impact animal health and performance’ and explains new ways of ‘Using mycotoxin biomarkers to monitor the flock's health’. He highlights that mycotoxin production already starts in the field and that appropriate mycotoxin assessment requires monitoring beyond the limited feed mycotoxin analysis. As such, the major limitations of mycotoxin feed analysis are inherently subject to a large error (~80%) due to the sampling itself. For appropriate mycotoxin assessment the actual animal exposure to mycotoxins is required, something that is feasible today via the use of biomarkers and biomonitoring.
Best practices in mycotoxin management
Emerging mycotoxins are more common than legislated mycotoxins, although they are as toxic as the latter. For this reason, it is important to include emerging mycotoxins in the routinary control plans. Dr. Arnau Vidal, mycotoxins and stress expert at Innovad, showcases the power of biomonitoring with the Myco-Marker® tool and the in vivo detoxification ability of Escent® S via several real poultry production cases. Dr. Vidal discusses real cases of broilers, layers and breeders from several countries both in terms of clinical and subclinical mycotoxicosis in depth.
Intestinal leakage and inflammation
Modern broilers are sensitive to intestinal pathologies, infections, intestinal leakage and inflammation that negatively impact production performance. Prof. Filip Van Immerseel, Professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Ghent University, explains the ‘Intestinal health principles’ of modern poultry production and how different diseases and stressors are connected to each other. Intestinal health biomarkers have a lot to offer to producers and the application in the real field will become part of the daily routine testing.
The economic importance of coccidiosis management
Clinical coccidiosis and the prevention/treatment of it encounters about 30% of the global financial cost caused by the disease, while the vast majority (70%) of the financial impact of Eimeria species in poultry is due to subclinical coccidiosis. For 2022 estimated cost of coccidiosis is €0.10 – €0.18/chick, which is equal to € 3K– € 5.4K/30K chicks. Even a tiny improvement in the subclinical coccidiosis control program will significantly impact the integration level with monetary savings. Dr. Hilde Van Meirhaeghe from Vetworks, emphasizes that monitoring is essential to design efficient preventive programs and how to control subclinical coccidiosis and related intestinal health.
Implementing coccidiosis control programs while reducing anticoccidial resistance
The ever-growing anticoccidial resistance in relation to gut health impacts the coccidiosis control options negatively. For a more profitable poultry business, all information about the coccidiosis situation on a farm must be used and turned into better coccidiosis control. Dr. Maarten De Gussem, from Vetworks, therefore covers in detail the ‘coccidiosis control programs while reducing anticoccidial resistance’. He clarifies the main advantages and disadvantages of the different coccidiosis control tools such as vaccination, anticoccidials (chemicals, ionophores and their combinations) and explains what sound rotation programs look like and how they should be monitored and how alternative solutions for coccidiosis management help reduce anticoccidial resistance.
Innovad’s Gilles De Feyter explained how to build your own coccidiosis control programs while reducing and preventing anticoccidial resistance with practical guidelines and real case examples. The audience exercises were guided by Dr. Maarten De Gussem.
Practical sessions
Macroscopic lesion scoring of both coccidiosis and bacterial enteritis combined should form an integral part of the efficacy evaluation of preventive programs irrespective of their form e.g. anti-coccidial drugs, vaccines and phytogenics. That’s why, during the MBC Masterclasses, classroom sessions are combined with practical sessions on mycotoxin, intestinal and foot pad lesion scoring in broilers at the necropsy facility in UGent led by Jeroen De Gussem (Innovad) and Dr. Hilde Van Meirhaeghe. All attendees have the chance to practice real cases with their own hands. 
Lab visit at Ghent University
MBC participants have the unique opportunity to visit the Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UGent), where the Myco-Marker® analysis is performed. Witness first-hand the extraction of the via FTA-cards collected dried blood spots from around the globe to be subjected to state-of-the-art analysis with powerful LC-MS/MS equipment to synthesize the mycotoxin report for every single farm case.
Testimonials
INNOVAD's MBC Masterclasses are highly appreciated by the international guests who expressed their gratitude for this unique opportunity:
Interested in joining the next MBC Masterclass?
MBC Masterclasses are a perfect chance to share best practices and to meet peers from around the world: representatives from the entire industry covering all aspects of modern poultry production from chief veterinarians and production managers in charge of poultry operations to independent consultants e.g. nutritionists, formulators, and feed millers/integrators spanning several continents.
Contact your sales representative or Jeroen De Gussem, Business Development Director at Innovad, for more practical information and availability.