Identification of T-2 toxin in moldy corn associated with a lethal toxicosis in dairy cattle.

Over a 5-month period during the winter of 1970-71, 20% of the lactating Holstein cows in a Wisconsin dairy herd died after prolonged ingestion of a diet containing 60% moldy corn infested with Fusarium tricinctum (2 x 10(5) propagules per g of moldy corn). Ethyl acetate extracts of the ground dried corn induced severe dermal reactions when applied to the skin of shaved 60-g albino rats and killed four of five 100-g rats that were force fed 1 ml in 2 ml of pure corn oil. T-2 toxin (3-hydroxy-4, 15-diacetoxy-8-[3-methylbutyryloxy]-12, 13-epoxy-Delta(9)-trichothecene) at concentrations of 2 mg per kg of dry corn was identified in purified extracts of the moldy corn by means of gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. This concentration of T-2 toxin in the moldy feed and the nature of the toxic effects observed strongly suggest a major causal relationship.