The sampling and data recording of the 100 D4Dairy farms participating in project 2.5 (Mycotoxin Detection and Implications for Dairy Performance - Screening mycotoxin contamination in feeds as a causal agent of infertility and poor health in dairy cattle) started in May 2019. The second sampling round was successfully finished in September 2020.

The project aims to evaluate the occurrence of mycotoxins and the impact of mycotoxin contaminated feed on health, productive performance, and fertility in dairy herds.

The video by doctoral student Felipe Penagos-Tabares, Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, Vetmeduni shows captures of the feed sampling process, silos evaluation (organoleptic evaluation as well as moisture and temperature measuring) and data recording of feeding management in Austrian dairy farms as well as lab work, such as the particle size determination (by Penn State Particle Separator).

The novel Biomin’s multi-mycotoxin analysis method (Spectrum 380®) tests over 400 mycotoxin and secondary metabolites. This analysis will be carried out at the Institute of Bioanalytics and Agro-Metabolomics, Boku, Tulln.

The project is a cooperation between the Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, Vetmeduni, Feed and Food Quality Safety and Innovation (FFoQSI), IFA- Boku, Biomin, and LKV (Styria, Lower and Upper Austria).