Pretty soon, in the ’70s and ’80s, I was involved in controlling sclerotinia disease of canola, blackleg of canola, sulphur deficiency in canola and, later on, fusarium head blight in cereals. In conjunction with the late Phil Thomas, the canola specialist, we at Alberta Agriculture ran several highly successful disease control programs. The crop protection branch at Alberta Agriculture published fact sheets on these diseases, which are still available on the net, essentially fully relevant and currently almost abandoned by Alberta Agriculture.

This story started in the early ’80s, when we had outbreaks of a browning destructive disease of wheat. This distinct browning and a much-reduced yield were initially blamed on a bacterial disease, pseudomonas. This browning disease was most common on Park wheat, especially in wet summers. Lu Piening, a cereal research scientist at the Lacombe, Alta. federal research station, had several discussions with me on his views about this problem. He had previously done research on wheat diseases in the Aberdare mountains of west-central Kenya. In areas where wheat grew poorly, he said, they were treated with Bordeaux mixture — a mix of copper sulphate and slaked lime. This mixture, applied on the wheat seed, gave much better wheat yields than the untreated checks.

In a sandy soil area near Lacombe, Piening set out plots of wheat, barley and oats on cropland that returned low yields and quality of these cereals, particularly wheat. The plots treated with copper chelate more than doubled the yield of all the wheats, and the browning of the wheat heads and lodging were absent. Some of the barleys and oats also responded very positively.

As a consequence of Piening’s work, Alberta Agriculture’s Edmonton crop science and soil science units actively initiated work on copper deficiency in the Edmonton area on cropland that produced unexpectedly low yields of wheat and barley.

In the meantime, we found that Robin Graham and colleagues in Australia had published a full review of copper deficiency in Australia and its occurrence worldwide in 1981. Despite Graham’s research, Canadian soil scientists, as well as those in the U.S., were for the most part very skeptical of any soil copper deficiency influencing cereal yields. On sandy, peaty and peat soils in general in Alberta, we found huge yield responses to soil or foliar copper amendments, particularly for wheat. Research in Manitoba on peat soils at five separate locations, published in 1990 by agronomist Ray Dowbenko, showed yield increases of 13 bushels of barley to 80 bushels, and at another location from three to 83 bushels per acre. By the late ’90s, Alberta Agriculture published a fact sheet, Copper Deficiency: Diagnosis and Correction (Agdex 532-3), and it is fully relevant today.

Farmers who crop land all across the Prairies and south of the border have had incredible yield and quality increase when they have identified copper deficiencies. Unfortunately, we still have many influential skeptics who refuse to even understand this problem.

How does ergot fit into the story?

When we ran field plot trials in the Stony Plain area of Alberta, one of our technologists, Lloyd Davidson, told us that while the check wheat samples in the yield trials had lots of ergots, they were few or absent from the copper-amended wheat plots. We checked all of the harvested grain samples from the copper-treated and equivalent check plots, and sure enough, there were few or no ergots in those wheat trial samples.

Ergot infection as a consequence of copper deficiency was something that the world had missed. Australian, British and French researchers had previously shown copper deficiency caused pollen sterility, but they failed to equate it with ergot infection.

Agriculture Canada and the Western Grains Research Foundation had spent millions of dollars looking for resistance in wheat to ergot. The answer was simply pollen sterility in wheat, barley and oats, brought about by copper deficiency that caused unpollinated female flowers to open and become infected with ergot or, alternatively, stray grain pollen. Ergot in a field of wheat is a sure sign of cross-pollination as well, since the flowers are also open to stray viable pollen that can travel for miles.

In Quebec and in Finland (1981), it has been shown that severe boron deficiency can also result in ergot infection in barley and wheat, due to pollen tube failure from a severe lack of boron. Soil boron levels in Quebec were 0.1 parts per million.

As an epilogue, there were no bells and whistles when we proved conclusively the relationship between copper deficiency and ergot infection in wheat, barley and oats. Identifying copper deficiency as a cause of ergot infection had worldwide implications. Just remember the incredible answer came from the Canadian Prairies and the accolades were non-existent.

Consequences of copper deficiency

Despite a few prominent soil scientist skeptics out there, several of whom have retired recently, copper nutrition plays a major role in Prairie agriculture. Back some 70 to 100 years ago, wheat yields were 25 bushels per acre, and barley perhaps 40 bushels per acre. A soil level of copper at 0.5 parts per million (ppm) in the top six inches (15 cm), equivalent to one pound per acre of copper, could well have been adequate. Every crop removed for grain or hayland would remove perhaps a half ounce (15 grams) of available copper or less. Sandy, sandy loam or sandy silt soils may have had less than one to two pounds of available copper in the top six inches. Over the years they would become copper-depleted. Peat soils or peaty loam soils also tie up or sequester available copper, making it unavailable to the crop, resulting in lodged, low-yielding, low-quality cereal crops.

With expectations of 70- to 100-bushel yields of wheat or 120 bushels of barley, soil copper levels should be at least 1.5 to 2.5 ppm. Such levels would be good for many years since copper does not leach in cropland. It has been recently estimated copper-deficient soils may be as much as 30 per cent of the acreage in Alberta, 10 per cent in Saskatchewan and 15 per cent in Manitoba.

Copper for cattle

In many areas of Prairie Canada, we have had significant problems with copper deficiency in cattle. Animal nutritionists and veterinarians are now fully recognizing the role of this vital element in the animal’s life cycle.

A few points:

• The blood of slugs and snails, as well as of oysters, octopus and squid, is copper-based. They live and breathe copper.
• Copper is not a heavy metal such as gold or lead, but rather a ferrous bio-essential mineral. Look at the list on your multivitamin bottle.
• Rye and wild grasses, and to some extent triticale, are open-pollinated and invariably end up with some degree of ergot infection — and it’s not copper-related.

If you come across any individual who states that ergot in wheat and barley is caused by wet weather and prolonged flowering, I hope you ask for the source and proof.

At Bradford Marsh — black peatland, north of Toronto — horticultural growers apply 150 pounds of bluestone (copper sulphate) at 25 per cent actual copper per acre to bring the land into full production.

My final message to all Prairie farmers who grow cereals, particularly wheat: the appearance of ergot in your harvested crop is like the proverbial canary in the coal mine. It indicates you have a minor or perhaps major problem with copper deficiency that could result in very significant crop losses in both yield and quality.

Please let this statement stick in your mind: Copper sufficiency completely — yes, completely — eliminates ergot in wheat, barley and oats. Don’t let the naysayers confuse you with their opinions; just stick to facts.

Copper in crops: Talking points 

• Copper deficiency, in wheat and barley, results in minor to major ergot infection.
• Sterile pollen, in both wheat and barley, results in blanks and loss of yields.
• Ergot in seed wheat or barley is a sure sign that cross-pollination will have taken place, affecting grain quality or purity.
• Ergots must be cleared out of infected grains.
• Severe lodging is a consequence of copper deficiency since copper-based enzymes are responsible for stem strength — that is, stem lignification — in all cereals.
• Low copper soil levels result in delayed crop maturity of up to 10-15 days.
• Grass quality in copper-deficient soils makes for inferior cattle grades.
• Yield losses in copper-deficient wheat fields in Alberta can be as much as 50-60 per cent of expected yield or more, and the grain will be of inferior quality.
• Heavy manuring, especially on light or sandy soils low in copper, can create a major copper deficiency since the soil microflora have first dibs on the low copper levels, resulting in copper deficiency and very poor crop stem strength and severe crop lodging. Some say it’s an excess of nitrogen; that’s just nonsense.
• Peatland will not produce a crop of wheat or barley until it’s treated with a “heavy” copper application.
• Certain Group 1 wild oat herbicides can severely affect uptake of copper on copper-deficient soils. Have you seen spray wheel lines in wheat fields? Can you figure this out?
• In very wet summers, cereals will have very shallow rooting in the top six inches (15 cm). This copper-deficient zone can result in severe crop lodging. In dry summers, little or no lodging results, since the cereal roots can move two to four feet into the subsoil where there is adequate copper. So, a wheat field may lodge one year, but not the next, depending on rainfall. That confuses soil scientists.

– Ieuan Evans is a forensic plant pathologist based in Edmonton, Alta. He can be reached at dr.irevans@gmail.com.

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“Is ergot still a problem in cattle feed?”

“We seem to worry more about ergot today than we did thirty years ago,” I replied. “Don’t know exactly why, but I think cropping practices changed as did our concern about ergot. Headlands still contain grasses that develop ergot. As well, many tonnes of grain are routinely cleaned, concentrating ergot bodies in screenings. Drought in recent years has increased the value of screenings as a supplemental food source for cattle and increased the risk of ergot toxicity.”

Recent studies suggest the effects of ergot in feed — and another mycotoxin, deoxynivalenol (DON), produced by fusarium head blight — be re-evaluated because the two toxins can seriously affect weight gain and can augment one another’s effects when they appear together.

Papers by M. Matossian (Ergot and the Salem Witchcraft Affair) and M.R. Lee (Concepts of Purpurea from Antiquity to 1900) review the history of ergot poisoning in humans related to long-term ingestion of toxic alkaloids in rye bread. Symptoms in humans can roughly be divided into convulsive (due to chemicals in ergot bodies related to LSD) and gangrenous (due to vasoconstrictive components that reduce blood supply to extremities such as fingers and toes).

In cattle, symptoms include weight loss, gangrene of ear tips, loss of the tip of the tail, gangrenous lesions affecting feet, and more.

Key points (from Merck Veterinary Manual):

• Hard dark bodies of ergot develop after Claviceps invades the seed of grains (rye, wheat, barley, oats) and grasses (timothy, brome, fescues, ryegrasses and others). The concentration of ergot alkaloids and other toxic compounds will vary.
• Low dietary concentrations (200 ppb/20 ppm) can have adverse health effects.

Ergot toxicosis in animals produces lameness, gangrenous loss of lower limbs, tails and ears, loss of milk production, poor thermoregulation (panting and signs of stress at temperatures lower than normal), rough hair coat, weight loss, reduced gains, reduced reproductive performance.

No specific antidote is available. Change ration and provide supportive care.

Several alkaloid derivatives are manufactured for human use today. Different alkaloids have different uses for:

• migraines
• Parkinson’s disease
• dementia
• promotion of uterine contraction

Ergot poisoning stands as an example of plant-based toxicity identified centuries ago. It’s one we have failed to find treatment for and yet have developed a spectrum of useful drugs based on its chemistry.

–Dr. Ron Clarke is a veterinarian who consults on animal health and disease issues and writes for agricultural and veterinary audiences.

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Vanessa Cowan, who conducted the study at WCVM, says they decided to conduct this study after producers expressed concern that ergot in their feed was affecting the fertility of their bulls. As well, there isn’t a lot of research on the topic. 

“The goal of this study was to see if concentrations of ergot alkaloids in grain that are currently permissible by Canadian standards for cattle feed had any effects on breeding soundness of bulls,” Cowan says. 

Ergot alkaloids come from the fungi Claviceps purpurea, which can infect different types of grains that cattle consume. 

When consumed over time, ergot can cause toxicity, constricting blood vessels. In female cattle, ergot can suppress hormone secretion and reduce pregnancy rates, as well as cause other issues. 

Issues with ergot contaminating grain fluctuate every year, but Cowan says it’s their most requested test at their toxicology lab. 

For the study, WCVM researchers split Angus bulls into two different groups. Both groups ate the same diet for 12 weeks early in the study. They then fed one group high-ergot feed, at 2,200 micrograms per kilogram for nine weeks. The other group consumed feed with half the ergot concentration.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has set the allowable concentration of ergot for cattle at two to three parts per million, which equals 2,000 to 3,000 micrograms per kilogram. 

The bulls were followed for another 10 weeks after the study to see if there were any long-lasting effects on their sperm production. Researchers measured sperm motility, concentration and morphology, as well as rectal temperatures and total scrotal circumference. 

“At the end of it, what we found is that there seems to be a very subtle, if any, effect of ergot alkaloids on sperm production and breeding soundness in these bulls,” Cowan says. 

Cowan says the group of bulls consuming high-ergot feed didn’t have any less viable sperm after the study. The higher ergot could have affected the ability of the sperm to move efficiently, but the morphology and development remained the same.

However, there was also decreased plasma prolactin in both treatment groups. Plasma prolactin is a hormone made by the pituitary gland. In females, this hormone produces milk during pregnancy. Cowan says they aren’t sure how much of a concern that is yet for bulls, but it’s an area that could be investigated further.

“Because (plasma prolactin) is such an important hormone in lactation, there are consequences of it being decreased on the female side, like reduced milk production.”

For the producers who initially reached out to WCVM with concerns about how ergot alkaloids were affecting their bulls, Cowan hopes the results of the study are beneficial.

“We thought that was good news in the sense that, at least on the bull side of things, that things don’t seem to be strongly affected.”

Going forward, Cowan says they would like to assess if ergot affects cryo-preserved semen samples or artificially inseminated cows.

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Ergot is a fungus that can grow on certain grasses and grain plants when moisture conditions are just right. It becomes a problem mainly after a wet growing season. The fungus replaces the seed head with a dark brown/black mass and produces toxic alkaloids. The strains in Western Canada tend to be more virulent and harmful than what is generally seen in the U.S.

Some ergot alkaloids affect the nervous system, resulting in muscle spasms in the hind legs, loss of balance, inco-ordination and sometimes temporary paralysis. More commonly, the toxic alkaloids impair blood circulation to the extremities, which can result in loss of ears, tail or feet. Mild cases of ergot poisoning may show up as poor production (lower weight gain, drop in milk production, inability to handle hot or cold weather, reproductive problems, or abortion).

Jenna Sarich is a graduate student at the University of Saskatchewan who has been researching ergot levels in cattle feed. She’s finding that cattle fed ergot even within Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) levels can struggle, especially as the mercury climbs.

Sarich is working with Dr. Gabriel Ribeiro, an assistant professor and the Saskatchewan Beef Industry chair at the University of Saskatchewan. Her master’s project comprises three different studies.

“In the first one, we were taking samples from across Western Canada, and analyzing the profiles of these ergot-contaminated feed samples. We were trying to make a link, to see if the toxicity of ergot changes, based on location, climate within that location, or the crop it was growing in,” she says.

Next, they studied ergot in the rumen of an animal. “We did it in vitro, however, rather than in an actual animal. We used a lab device instead, collecting rumen fluid and digesta (feed material from the gut) from a cannulated animal and put it into an artificial rumen known as a RUSITEC, a semi-continuous in-vitro system. It has artificial saliva coming in, just like an animal would swallow, and has a port for liquid coming out — like it would leave the rumen. We were able to collect the gas produced and it also had continuous mixing, to simulate actual rumen contractions. We ‘fed’ the ergot into this, at toxic levels of 20 ppm, to see its effects on the microbiome within the simulated rumen. We also fed a mycotoxin binder, to see if this might help alleviate the impact,” Sarich says. This study has been published in the Journal of Animal Science.

The third part of her project involved feedlot cattle. Researchers obtained animal care approval from the University of Saskatchewan Animal Research Ethics Board before beginning the project, which took place at the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence’s feedlot.

Sarich and her colleagues separated 240 steers into 16 pens. Researchers gave the steers feed with different ergot levels, all within the CFIA level, which is two to three ppm.

“Ergot changes its toxicity, depending on many factors, so it’s very difficult to pinpoint exactly how much would be safe within the diet of an animal,” says Sarich. The steers’ diets had ergot alkaloids included at increasing levels, ranging from zero (control, without ergot), 0.75 to 1.5 and three ppm.

The study covered the entire feedlot cycle, beginning with the backgrounding period in early November and running to the end of finishing in late June for a total of 231 days.

“We saw some effects during the backgrounding, but these were not as evident as later. Coming into the finishing phase we started seeing some symptoms after the daytime temperatures reached about 20 C. The animals that were on the three ppm diet began to have increased respiratory rate and open-mouthed panting. They had increased saliva and heat stress symptoms. We also saw them splashing in their watering bowl, trying to cool themselves,” Sarich says.

This created muddy conditions in the pens. The cattle would then lie in the mud to try to cool off.

“When we were walking through the pen, we’d know which cattle were receiving the three ppm level in their feed, just by the state of their pen,” she says. After a short time, they decided to take the animals off the three ppm diet as the weather that spring was hot, and it looked like it was only going to get hotter.

On May 13, researchers started feeding the animals the control diet. This wasn’t a part of the study but it did add an interesting facet.

“We saw these animals experience a significant drop in dry matter intake and average daily gain when they showed signs of heat stress. When we took them off the ergot and started feeding them the control diet, by the end of the study — about 40 days later — they had significant compensatory gain and ended up being about the same weight as the control animals. It was interesting to see that those animals were able to bounce back after we took them off the ergot. Animals receiving the second-highest concentration of 1.5 ppm continued to have reduced growth performance, but to a lesser extent than the animals on the three ppm diet,” she says.

The response to the change was immediate. “We did continue to see some heat stress signs in those animals, but their gain increased a lot. There is something about ergot that does produce prolonged effects, but there is also the acute effect on growth performance.”

There was a significant increase in body temperature in those animals on high levels of ergot. “Their temperature and growth performance was linear; the more increase of ergot in the diet, the more their body temperature increased, with a parallel decrease in performance.”

During the study, many other measurements were taken as well. Ergot causes specific symptoms affecting vasoconstriction; if the animals consumed ergot at toxic levels, the blood vessels constrict.

“They may lose blood flow to their ears, tail and limbs. Because of this factor, we also had some welfare parameters in our study. I took thermogram images of the animal’s head and ears, to ensure that we could see any changes in blood flow to the ears,” Sarich says. “Thermography involves using a camera that picks up heat, so we used that during sampling and when we weighed the cattle.”

Researchers also checked the feet for any lameness due to constricted blood flow. “We used two lasers, similar to what they use in barrel racing; when the steer crossed the first one the timer would start and when he crossed the second one the timer stops. This enabled us to see if the animals were decreasing or increasing their speed coming out of the chute. This could be indicative of lameness, or stress,” she says. They also used Grow-Safe systems to measure individual feed intake and behaviour, she adds, but are still analyzing data on some of these parameters.

“The information that we already have ready to go in our presentations includes growth performance, body temperature, blood and hair parameters, and carcass performance.”

So what’s the bottom line? The results of this study show that cattle producers should be feeding less than 1.5 ppm in rations, especially in warmer weather, since performance and welfare of the animals were affected when consuming levels higher than 0.75 ppm.

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“We are seeing a bit of a shortage of trucks,” said Tracy Green of Market Master Ltd. in Edmonton, adding “things are still moving, just a lot of our truckers are booked right up.”

The end of the strike at Canadian National Railway (CN) will help the overall transportation situation, she added.

The logistics tightness did see feed prices rise over the past few weeks, with feed barley trading at about $235 per tonne delivered into the key Lethbridge feeding area.

Buyers were also short on contracts, due to the large amounts of tough grain coming off the field that needed to be dried.

Green said prices were leveling off now, as the higher prices have feedlots reverting to buying on a hand-to-mouth basis.

Demand typically increases over the winter months, as cattle eat more when the temperatures drop. However, farmer selling also picks up around the New Year as producers sell into the new tax year. Green expected those two conflicting forces would keep some stability in the market.

Beyond the supply/demand fundamentals, quality of the grain could become a larger concern going forward. Green said more ergot was showing up in feed wheat samples this year than normal, which will lead to downgrades and possible rejections if the levels are too high.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.

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Mycotoxins are produced by certain types of fungi. Fusarium and ergot are two of the most common causes. Mycotoxins can be found in green pasture, cereal swaths, standing corn for winter grazing, cured and ensiled grass, cereal forages and commercial feeds. Straw, distillers grains, grain screenings and oilseed meals can also contain mycotoxins.

Reduced feed consumption is one symptom of mycotoxins poisoning in beef cattle. Feed reduction of more than 30 per cent calls for investigation. Other symptoms include:

• Failure to thrive/reduction in growth or performance.
• Immune suppression (animal is often sick).
• Does not respond to antibiotics.
• Convulsions, muscle spasms, temporary paralysis.
• Gangrene or lameness, especially in the animal’s ears, tail and feet.
• Fever or intermittent bloody diarrhea.
• Blisters, reddening or ulcers in the mouth.
• Abortion and premature births, or reduced lactation.
• Fertility issues such as weak testicular development and low sperm count in bulls.

The Beef Cattle Research Council advises producers to avoid feeding mouldy feed and consider feed testing, especially when risk factors are high. There’s no consensus on safe mycotoxin levels in beef feed.

For more information on mycotoxins and beef cattle, visit the Beef Cattle Research Council website.

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Dry conditions in many regions of the Prairies and ergot in Manitoba are expected to drive down yields.

Jonathan Hull of The Scoular Co. said he has been hearing from farmers that yields could be off by 25 to 30 per cent compared to 2017, when 323,800 tonnes were harvested.

“It’s still pretty early for actual, actual yields, but farmers I talk to say it will be off that much.”

Once the crop is in the bin, he said, some farmers may discover the situation is less dire than that, but that’s what they are saying now.

Ergot problems were particularly pronounced around the Carman, Man. area, he said.

In 2016, Canadian farmers harvested 436,000 tonnes of rye; they harvested 225,500 tonnes in 2015, 217,500 tonnes in 2014, 222,900 in 2013.

Hull said growers have overproduced for the last two years so this year’s decline comes as no surprise.

“It was overproduced and so prices hit a low and then last year we ran into just moisture issues during planting so less people seeded,” he said.

Last fall, farmers planted 201,200 acres, according to Statistics Canada. That compares with 259,800 for the 2017 growing season and 370,540 for 2016.

Manitoba is Canada’s top rye-producing province with 114,300 tonnes harvested last year, compared to 113,000 tonnes in Saskatchewan, 48,000 tonnes in Ontario and 33,500 tonnes in Alberta, according to Statistics Canada data.

— Terry Fries writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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Ergot is a common grain fungus but some major buyers, including top global wheat importer Egypt, have rejected cargoes with even trace amounts in the past.

Though confirmed in only one area so far, according to grain merchants who spoke to Reuters, the fungus could be another headache for U.S. wheat growers whose grain has lost share in the world market due primarily to high prices.

North Dakota is the top growing U.S. state of spring wheat, a high-protein variety milled into flour for specialty breads, bagels and pizza dough.

A grain elevator operated by CHS Inc. at Sterling, N.D., about 300 km south of Boissevain, Man., was already rejecting some wheat deliveries, according to elevator manager Eric Basnett.

“It’s pretty prevalent. Some of the heavier loads we’ve been seeing are anywhere from 0.08 to a 1.15 (per cent ergot content). The limit with no discount is 0.05 or less,” Basnett said. “It’s definitely widespread this year.”

Basnett said the ergot could be more pronounced in early-harvested fields.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday said the U.S. spring wheat harvest was 35 per cent complete. In North Dakota, the harvest was 29 per cent done.

Wheat infected with ergot forces farmers to either sell their grain at hefty discounts, or set it aside until they can blend it with clean grain.

A grain elevator at Minto, N.D., about 100 km south of Altona, Man., reported seeing wheat with as much as 0.25 per cent ergot. Anything more than 0.1 per cent would be rejected, according to a notice sent to customers seen by Reuters.

“It seems like conditions were perfect this year (and) we are seeing more than we normally do,” said Penny Nester, a crop expert at North Dakota State University.

She said some elevators must levy discounts or reject loads due to a big U.S. spring wheat harvest.

“It’s a supply and demand situation; right now we have a lot of wheat coming in, so they can be choosy about what they accept,” Nester said.

— Reporting for Reuters by Julie Ingwersen; writing by Michael Hirtzer.

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However, the concentration as well as the types of ergot alkaloids present affects its toxicity to livestock, raising more questions about this harmful fungus.

“The impact of the ergot is going to depend on the form that it came in, so if it’s a pelleted diet, probably having 300 parts per billion is maybe less of an issue than if they’re just feeding rolled grain to their stock,” said Kim Stanford, beef research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.

“If the concentration of (ergot) alkaloids gets very high, pelleting alone is not going to be enough to protect the livestock, so I think that’s probably the best information that we’ve got: that pelleting is some help at lower concentrations.”

Stanford, who works out of the Research Centre in Lethbridge, recently completed a three-year study on ergot alkaloids in collaboration with the University of Sask­atchewan and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The prevalence of ergot contamination has significantly increased in Western Canada over the last several years, likely due in part to wet conditions. The fungus contaminates grain at the flowering stage, replacing the kernel with an ergot body. “If it’s very wet, humid, cloudy weather when the grain is flowering, that promotes the spread of the fungus,” said Stanford.

“A lot of people are feeding screenings pellets, and when the grain is cleaned that tends to concentrate the ergot, and the livestock bear the brunt of that,” she said. Testing feed for ergot can be extremely challenging. “The ergot alkaloids are very complicated structures, and they’re not easy to measure, so you need very complicated, expensive equipment and really skilled people to do the analyses, and even then it’s difficult.”

One reason that ergot alkaloids are harder to measure than other mycotoxins is because they have two forms, called epimers. The form is based on the rotation of the molecule, and one form of epimer can convert to the other. “It’s kind of a nightmare because we don’t really understand what makes the epimers interconvert back and forth.”

Of the two epimers, the R-epimer is more toxic than the S-epimer. When the R-epimer combines with the receptors in an animal’s cells, it can cause some of the larger problems related to ergot. “The S-epimer doesn’t bind as well, but if it’s going back and forth between those two, it makes it difficult to tell how toxic it is.”

Lambs may be able to withstand higher concentrations of ergot contamination

This study used three different sources of ergot to create the diets that were then fed to lambs. In order to prevent serious issues, researchers were extremely cautious in the amount of ergot-contaminated grain fed in the first year of the study, using 432 parts per billion as the highest concentration. At this step, the study compared pelleted and mash diets with similar concentrations of ergot alkaloids.

“There was a thought within the feed industry that pelleting increased the toxicity of the ergot, but that’s not what we found at all. We actually found that pelleting reduced the toxicity,” said Stanford. Lambs fed the pelleted diet performed better than those fed the mash diet. This was supported by measurements of prolactin in the lambs’ bloodstream. This hormone is used to identify ergot poisoning, as ergot contamination can almost completely stop prolactin production.

While they were able to measure some of the changes in toxicity that took place in the alkaloids, Stanford noted that pelleting didn’t change the actual concentration of the alkaloids. As well, they were not able to measure the epimers present in alkaloids in the first year of the study.

In the second year, researchers increased the concentration of ergot alkaloids to the allowable maximum, 2,400 parts per billion. They used four pelleted diets: a control diet without ergot alkaloids, pellets with a concentration of about 432 parts per billion, about 900 parts per billion and 2,400 parts per billion.

“It took a significantly higher concentration of alkaloids in year two to have an impact on performance, and that was because of the specific types of alkaloids that were present in that sample of screenings that we were feeding to the lambs,” she said.

Stanford explained that this illustrates how problematic ergot contamination is. “There’s wide variations in alkaloids present in ergot.” If a producer tested his feed and found that the concentration was within the allowable limit, this may not mean the feed is safe, as the toxicity also depends on the type of alkaloids present.

In the final year of the study, they added an alkaloid binder to the pelleted diets with the highest concentration of ergot in hopes of preventing negative effects on the lambs. “The lambs that were receiving the binder had 1.7 times more prolactin in their bloodstream compared to the ones that just had the ergot diet,” said Stanford. This is positive, as ergot has serious implications for reproductive functions, though the binder wasn’t able to bring prolactin levels up to those of the control group lambs.

While the lambs fed the ergot-contaminated diet had reduced fibre digestion, the binder recovered fibre digestion in those lambs back to the control group levels. However, it didn’t improve their average daily gain. The binder is also meant to “prevent absorption of the alkaloid in the gastro-intestinal tract,” she said. “The lambs that were fed the ergot-contaminated diet plus binder had 30 per cent more alkaloids in their feces compared to the lambs that were fed the diet with ergot (and) no binder.”

The lambs’ rectal temperatures were taken each week, as ergot leads to vasoconstriction, preventing an animal from properly regulating their temperature. “The lambs that were just receiving ergot without the binder, their rectal temperatures were significantly higher,” said Stanford. While the binder didn’t bring the lambs’ performance up to control levels, it showed that it could potentially “reduce the impacts of heat stress due to ergot exposure.”

Raising more questions

Given the complex nature of ergot, Stanford said that much more work is required. The next step is to investigate how the process of pelleting decreases the toxicity of the ergot alkaloids.

As of April, Stanford and her research group have applied for funding to continue this work. If successful, the next study will be conducted on cattle. “Even though sheep and cattle presently have the same allowable limits based on the current CFIA regulations, which are under review as well, whether sheep and cattle actually do have the same tolerances is another question.”

They also want to investigate the specific types of ergot alkaloids found in the Prairie provinces. “The ergot alkaloids are very location specific, so it’s important that we have some information on what’s here in Western Canada,” she said. Knowing the more prevalent alkaloid profiles in the Prairies would be useful to identify “a bad mixture of alkaloids versus one that may cause less problems.”

Sharing this information with producers is a vital step. “There’s a lot of misinformation about ergot out in the industry,” she said. “There’s a lot of people thinking that if you have 100 parts per billion in your diet your livestock are doomed, and that is not always going to be the case.”

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