April 4, 2019

BIOMIN Mycotoxin Academy in Nepal creates "strong imprints"

The much recognised BIOMIN Mycotoxin Academy was rolled out in Nepal in February this year with the first event held at Chitwan on February 12, BIOMIN recently said.

This was closely followed by another event held at Kathmandu the next day.

The BIOMIN Mycotoxin Academies, which facilitates knowledge transfer between BIOMIN experts and stakeholders stands testimony to the commitment by the company in creating awareness on mycotoxin risk management and providing innovative and sustainable solutions to help the farmers.

Dr. Justin Tan, regional technical and marketing director of BIOMIN Asia-Pacific, took lead in the academies and presented on "Mycotoxin Risk Management in Animal Production." His technical session was interspersed with information like the prevalence of mycotoxins detected in Nepal, and regional and global trends.

The session was divided into three sections: Mycotoxin occurrence, effects of mycotoxins and mycotoxin risk management.

"Digestive disorders, carcinogenicity, impairment of the reproductive system, neurotoxicity and hepatotoxicity are some of the main effects caused by mycotoxins such as aflatoxin, zearalenone, ergot alkaloids, trichothecenes, fumonisins and Ochratoxin A," he elaborated.

Quoting leading research publications, Dr. Tan pointed out that even at low concentrations, mycotoxins cause immune suppression. "And all of these effects will ultimately lead to a decrease in animal performance which will be directly reflected in economic losses for the livestock industry," he said.

According to Dr. Tan, the most effective strategy against mycotoxins is to adopt a three-pronged strategy of mycotoxin control, namely biotransformation, adsorption and bioprotection, which is the science behind Mycofix^® product line from BIOMIN.

Mycofix^® is an unique combination of patented specific enzymes and biological components that deactivates mycotoxins in contaminated feed into non-toxic, environmentally-safe metabolites.

Dr. Gangga Widyanugraha, regional technical sales manage (poultry) of BIOMIN Asia-Pacific, delivered his presentation on

"Feed Testing and Necropsy- Challenges in Nepal", highlighting the prevalence of mycotoxins in Nepal from the field postmortem analyses he conducted in the country.

"The best action plan I would recommend is  Mycofix^® for breeder and layer feed, broiler pre-starter feed as well as broiler grower/finisher feed," he said, adding that this EU authorised product from BIOMIN is at the forefront of mycotoxin risk management.

Apart from the technical sessions, Edward Manchester, regional director of BIOMIN Asia-Pacific, explained to the audience about the core values of BIOMIN, which is Pioneers-Partners-Performers. "Mycotoxin Risk Management and Gut Performance Management are our two pillars," he said, adding that R&D is one of the cornerstones of BIOMIN.

Earlier, in his welcome speech, Dr. Sujit Kulkarni, managing director of BIOMIN India, explained about how the BIOMIN Mycotoxin Academies benefited hundreds of farmers and industry leaders in India.

In addition, Keerthivasan Chandrasekar, digital marketing executive of BIOMIN India, explained about the digital initiatives taken by BIOMIN and how farmers can get benefited by following the company's social media pages and subscribing to newsletters.

- BIOMIN