Analysis of Ergot (Claviceps purpurea) Alkaloids in Grain and Effect on Cow-Calf Performance

Ergot contamination of cereal crops and grasses has been of increasing concern for both grain and animal producers. The overall objective was to examine ergot contamination from an analytical, regulatory and biological perspective. The objectives of the first study were to determine the correlation between number of ergot sclerotia and weight compared to the total ergot alkaloid concentration, to evaluate the effect of particle size (PS) on ergot alkaloid analysis and to determine the impact of sample volume on analytical variability. This study demonstrated that correlations existed between both ergot sclerotia count and weight compared to the total alkaloid concentration (P’s < 0.001) but did not exist for either, at ergot alkaloid concentrations below 350 µg/kg (P = 0.956 and 0.769 respectively). This study also determined that a finer grind (PS = 192 µm) produced a lower variability (P = 0.041) than a coarser grind (PS = 516 µm). The coefficient of variation (CV) was also numerically reduced as sample volume increased (97% CV for 75 mL to 64% CV for 1000 mL; mean of all concentrations) but increased as sample concentration declined (17% CV for 81678 µg/kg to 284% for 35 µg/kg; mean of all sample volumes). An analytical approach with fine grinding of a minimum sample volume of 1000 mL (if not the entire sample available) should be used to assess ergot contamination to reduce variability. The objective of the second study was to determine if the percentages of individual ergot alkaloids were similar across different cereal grains collected from across Western Canada over different years. Ergocristine was the predominant alkaloid accounting for half of the total alkaloids in all grain types. Ergocornine (6% ± 1; P = 0.201), ergocristine (48% ± 2; P = 0.939), ergocryptine (17% ± 2; P = 0.302) and ergosine (5% ± 0.5; P = 0.239) were of similar proportions in barley (n = 39), rye (n = 7), triticale (n = 9) and wheat (n = 94). However, small differences were found between grain types for both ergometrine and ergotamine (P = 0.027 and 0.011 respectively). There were no yearly alkaloid proportion differences between the six alkaloids in barley and wheat 2015/2016 samples (P = 0.969, 0.680, 0.572, 0.080, 0.119 and 0.189 for ergocornine, ergocristine, ergocryptine, ergometrine, ergosine and ergotamine respectively). However, ergocornine was higher in wheat (P = 0.017) and ergometrine was higher in barley (P = 0.002) when comparing the 2015/2016 barley and wheat samples. With the overall proportions of ergot alkaloids comparable among the four grain types collected across Western Canada a maximum total ergot alkaloid concertation, as opposed to individual ergot alkaloid concentrations, can be considered acceptable. The objective of the third study was to evaluate the impact of ergot consumption in cow-calf performance. Overall, ergot alkaloid concentrations up to 820 µg/kg for 9 weeks had no effect on cow weight, calf weight, prolactin concentration, rectal temperature, progesterone concentration or timing of first progesterone rise (P = 0.931, 0.077, 0.298, 0.163, 0.792, 0.376). There was also no effect on the size of the first and second follicle to ovulate postpartum (P = 0.403 and 0.414 respectively) or the number of days until the first and second postpartum corpus luteum appearance (P = 0.949 and 0.984 respectively). The maximum size of the corpus luteum was 4 mm larger in the 820 µg/kg ergot treatment group compared to the control treatment (P = 0.028) for the first ovulation postpartum, however no differences were observed between the control and 820 µg/kg groups by the second ovulation (P = 0.113). A revised ergot tolerance concentration of 820 µg/kg for beef cows is suggested based on the reproduction/hormone endpoints

Fujaba hits the Wall(-e)

With the ever increasing pervasiveness of software in every day's life, it is quite easy to explain children the importance of software development. Especially when using gadgets such as LEGO robots, one can fascinate young pupils. It is much harder though to and fair link to the actual educational and research programs from a particular university without blowing the audience away with details of a particular Java framework. This paper illustrates how one can use Fujaba to involve children from 8 to 18 years old in realistic requirements elicitation workshops. The children implicitly get in touch with the object-oriented paradigm by playing in the real world the communication between objects in a robot's computer. Fujaba's visual object browser provides a convincing means to illustrate that the game adequately represents the robot's internals

Fujaba hits the Wall(-e)

With the ever increasing pervasiveness of software in every day's life, it is quite easy to explain children the importance of software development. Especially when using gadgets such as LEGO robots, one can fascinate young pupils. It is much harder though to and fair link to the actual educational and research programs from a particular university without blowing the audience away with details of a particular Java framework. This paper illustrates how one can use Fujaba to involve children from 8 to 18 years old in realistic requirements elicitation workshops. The children implicitly get in touch with the object-oriented paradigm by playing in the real world the communication between objects in a robot's computer. Fujaba's visual object browser provides a convincing means to illustrate that the game adequately represents the robot's internals

Validation of a New Sensitive Method for the Detection and Quantification of R and S-Epimers of Ergot Alkaloids in Canadian Spring Wheat Utilizing Deuterated Lysergic Acid Diethylamide as an Internal Standard

Ergot sclerotia effect cereal crops intended for consumption. Ergot alkaloids within ergot sclerotia are assessed to ensure contamination is below safety standards established for human and animal health. Ergot alkaloids exist in two configurations, the R and S-epimers. It is important to quantify both configurations. The objective of this study was to validate a new ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method for quantification of six R and six S-epimers of ergot alkaloids in hard red spring wheat utilizing deuterated lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-D3) as an internal standard. Validation parameters such as linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), matrix effects, recovery and precision were investigated. For the 12 epimers analyzed, low LOD and LOQ values were observed, allowing for the sensitive detection of ergot epimers. Matrix effects ranged between 101&ndash;113% in a representative wheat matrix. Recovery was 68.3&ndash;119.1% with an inter-day precision of &lt;24% relative standard deviation (RSD). The validation parameters conform with previous studies and exhibit differences between the R and S-epimers which has been rarely documented. This new sensitive method allows for the use of a new internal standard and can be incorporated and applied to research or diagnostic laboratories

Assessment of ergot (Claviceps purpurea) exposure in pregnant and postpartum beef cows

Cows were fed ration for 9 weeks containing 5, 48, 201 and 822µg/kg ergot alkaloids. The objective was to evaluate the impact of ergot consumption in beef cow-calf operations. Ergot alkaloids up to 822µg/kg did not alter the weight of peripartum and postpartum beef cows (P=0.93) or nursing calves (P=0.08), rectal temperature (P=0.16) or plasma prolactin concentrations (P=0.30) at moderate ambient temperatures. Ergot did not influence the time (>1ng/mL; P=0.79) or the progesterone concentration (P=0.38) at the time of first postpartum rise or the size of the first (14±0.6mm; P=0.40) and second (13±0.5mm; P=0.41) follicles to ovulate. The maximum size of the first postpartum corpus luteum (CL) was 4mm larger in the 822µg/kg ergot group compared with the control (P=0.03) for the first ovulation postpartum, but not for the second (P=0.11). There was no effect of ergot exposure on the number of days until the appearance of the first (43±4 days; P=0.95) or second (52±4 days; P=0.98) CL postpartum. Ergot alkaloid concentrations up to 822 µg/kg did not affect pregnancy rates (X2=0.36). In conclusion, ergot alkaloid exposure for 9 weeks to concentrations as high as 822µg/kg did not alter performance in pregnant and postpartum beef cattle at moderate ambient temperatures.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

The Impact of Storage Temperature and Time on Ergot Alkaloid Concentrations

Ergot sclerotia produce toxic secondary metabolites, ergot alkaloids, that infect cereal crops and grasses. Ergot alkaloids have two isomeric configurations: the C-8-R-isomer (R-epimer), and the C-8-S-isomer (S-epimer). Ergot contaminated matrices, such as cereal grains or grasses, may be stored for extended periods at various temperatures before being analyzed, utilized, or consumed. This study assessed the concentration of six common ergot alkaloids in both configurations found in naturally contaminated wheat over time (one, two, and four months) at different temperatures (room temperature, +4 °C, and −20 °C) using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. The data indicate that the total ergot concentration within a natural contaminated sample varies over time at room temperature, +4 °C, and −20 °C. The total ergot concentration increased until month two, and decreased at month four, independent of temperature (p R-epimer concentration appeared to be less stable over time than the total S-epimer concentration. The changes in the total R and total S-epimer concentrations may have been caused by changes in the ergocristine and ergocristinine concentrations, respectively. Time and temperature should be considered when storing potentially contaminated matrices in a laboratory or practical agriculture situations. Quantification of ergot contaminated matrices should occur prior to their use to ensure the most reliable estimates of the concentration of ergot

Fujaba Days 2011

Beitrag 3: Supported by the International Graduate School “Dynamic Intelligent Systems” and by the ‘Excellence Initiative’ of the German Federal and State Governments and the Graduate School of Computational Engineering at TU Darmstadt Beitrag 4: This work was developed in the course of the Collaborative Research Center 614 – Self-optimizing Concepts and Structures in Mechanical Engineering – University of Paderborn, and was published on its behalf and funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. This work was developed in the project "ENTIME: Entwurfstechnik Intelligente Mechatronik" (Design Methods for Intelligent Systems). The project ENTIME is funded by the state of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), Germany and the EUROPEAN UNION, European Regional Development Fund, "Investing in your future"