123 BOTANICA LITHUANICA 2005, Suppl. 7: 123–129 USE OF BIOLOGICAL METHOD FOR DETOXIFICATION OF MYCOTOXINS Bronius BAKUTIS 1 , Violeta BALIUKONIENË 1 , Algimantas PAÐKEVIÈIUS 2 1 Lithuanian Veterinary Academy, Tilþës Str. 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania; e-mail violeta.baliukoniene@lva.lt 2 Institute of Botany, Laboratory of Biodeterioration Research, Þaliøjø Eþerø Str. 49, LT-08406 Vilnius, Lithuania; e-mail a.paskevicius@botanika.lt Abstract Bakutis B., Baliukonienë V., Paðkevièius A., 2005: Use of biological method for detoxification of mycotoxins [Biologinio metodo taikymas mikotoksinø detoksikacijai].  Botanica Lithuanica, Suppl. 7: 123129. Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites secreted by fungi, mostly belonging to the genera Aspergillus Mich. : Fr., Penicillium Link and Fusarium Link. Mycotoxin-containing feed can cause serious diseases in farm animals. The presence of mycotoxins in feed may decrease feed intake and affect animal performance. The most applied method for protecting animals against mycotoxicosis is the utilization of adsorbents mixed with the feed, which are supposed to bind the mycotoxins effi- ciently in the gastro-intestinal tract. The most promising approach to decontaminate feed is a biolo- gical detoxification. Keywords: adsorbents, biological detoxification, fungi, mycotoxins, yeast. INTRODUCTION Fungi are ubiquitous in nature and fulfill an essential role in the recycling of nutrients from decaying matter in soils, vegetation and water. Fungi imperfecti are known to produce variety of secondary metabolites that seem to improve their competitiveness in nature (STEYN, 1998). The primary metabolites of fungi and other organisms are those compounds that are essential for growth. Se- condary metabolites are formed in the final stages of the exponential growth phase (JAY, 2000). Fungal metaboli- tes exhibit an intrinsic toxicity even at low concentra- tions, resulting in their collective classification as myco- toxins (FINK-GREMMELS & GEORGIOU, 1996). Mycotoxins are unavoidable contaminants in foods and feeds and are a major problem all over the world (D’MELLO et al., 1999). The number of mycotoxins known to induce signs of toxicity in mammalian and avian species exceeds 300 (FINK-GREMMELS, 1999) and is steadily increasing. Mycotoxins are important because they cause undesi- rable biological reactions when ingested. These reactions may vary from acute, over disease and death, to chronic disease states, and economically important but clinically obscure changes in growth, production and immunosup- pression. There are thousands of secondary fungal me- tabolites, the vast majority of which have not been tested for toxicity or unequivocally associated with disease outbreaks (BRYDEN, 2004). The most significant my- cotoxins in naturally contaminated foods and feeds are aflatoxins, ochratoxins, trichothecenes, zearalenone and fumonisins (DÄNICKE, 2002). In many cases these my- cotoxins can be found in combination in food (VER- SANTVOORT et al., 2005) and feed (GARALEVIÈIENË et al., 2003). Fungi of the genus Fusarium are common plant pa- thogens occurring world wide in a variety of crops, al- though they are mainly associated with cereals. Fusa- rium species can produce over one hundred secondary