Detection of Mycotoxins using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/Mass Spectrometry in Fungal Infected Meadow Grass Fodder

The worldwide contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins is a significant problem. The present study is aimed to detect the mycotoxin present in fungal infected meadow grass fodder from the Uttara Kannada district, where the cattle and buffaloes were exhibiting clinical signs such as posterior paralysis, downer cow syndrome, rumen impaction, and keratomalacia of tail and even mortality. The infected meadow grass fodder samples were collected and were subjected to the multimycotoxin analysis using 1200 series high-performance liquid chromatography (LC) (Agilent Technologies, Waldbronn, Germany) coupled to MDS Sciex 3200 Q Trap LC-mass spectrometry (MS)/MS system (Applied Biosystems, USA). Calibration curves were built individually using five or six concentration levels in the wheat matrix (mycotoxin free) were injected into LC-MS/MS system for each mycotoxin to be analyzed. The peak area of the mycotoxins was plotted against the concentration to generate matrix matched calibration curve. The analysis revealed the presence various mycotoxins in the sample, mainly Fusarial toxins such as zearalenone and beauvericin along with traces of aflatoxins, ochratoxin, citrinin, and trichothecenes. Hence, it could be concluded that the mycotoxins got detected in fungal infected meadow grass using LCMS/MS technique, could be the causatives for the major livestock disorders mentioned.