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Re: Silage problems (fwd)



[Probably several people reading this email list would like the references
to the papers published on this topic.  TH, moderator)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 14:02:02 -0500
From: rcole@asrr.arsusda.gov
To: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" <sustag@BETA.TRICITY.WSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Silage problems (fwd)

Dear Tom,
Several years ago we experienced acute mycotoxin problems associated with 
'trench type' and upright silos. In the first case, the silage was being 
unloaded improperly, causing areation of the face of the silo. The result was a 
secondary fermentation by thermophilic strains of Aspergillus fumigatus. This 
fungus can produce clavine alkaloids, fungal tremorgens, etc. We had about three 
different incidents during that one year. We have published this information so 
if you are interested I can get the references to you. We had another incident 
on a Mennonite farm in 1977, involving Dairy cattle consuming silage from an 
upright silo. In this case the corn crop was under severe drought stress and to 
salvage the crop it was ensilaged. The clinical signs were severe bloody diarra 
and a dramatic drop in milk production in all animals. We concluded that the 
water activity in the corn was too low to support the normal silage forming 
bacteria and an other microorganism(s), presumably toxigenic fungi,  
proliferated. The anerobic conditions could have been compromised in this case 
also. We never published anything on this problem because we couldn't properly 
pursue the problem at that particular time. Best personal regards, Dick Cole.