Trichothecenes T2 and HT2
Both T2 and HT2 toxins can be present in oats and oat by-products. These toxins, produced by Fusarium fungi, cause a wide range of symptoms including weight loss, feed refusal, dermatitis, vomiting (cats, dogs, pigs and ducklings), diarrhoea, haemorrhages and epithelium necrosis in various organs (stomach and intestine, bone marrow, spleen, testis and ovary) (European Commission, 2001). Between 2005 and 2009, a survey of European oat mills found that while the processing of oats to oat flakes and oat meal reduced the levels of T2 and HT2 trichotecenes toxins by more than 80%, toxin levels in oat by-products increased by 3-4 times and ranged from 282 to 564 µg/kg. Because these relatively high levels could potentially cause chronic or acute toxicity (at 0.06 mg/kg BW) in small animals, their use as feed ingredients merits further investigation (Pettersson et al., 2011; European Commission, 2001).