The Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) has confirmed the heightened risk of ergot infection in cereals harvested over recent weeks.
This is a direct consequence of the very wet weather that characterised most of the 2024 growing season.
Ergot fungi develop in the ears of cereals and produce ergot alkaloids, a deadly hallucinogenic toxin.
The risk of infection is especially high in wet seasons, so be on the lookout for this pathogen when combining or buying grain for livestock feed.
Infected grain can make cattle seriously ill by constricting blood vessels and damaging the nervous system, resulting in seizures, loss of muscle strength, poor co-ordination and, in severe cases, death.
Grain bought from merchants is usually checked at intake, so the risk of encountering an ergot challenge from these sources is low.
However, the same cannot be said for home save grain or cereals bought privately.
Ergot infection
One of the most alien-looking of all cereal pathogens, ergot infection, occurs early in the plant’s life.
Right from the seed, the fungus grows with the plant with symptoms only becoming evident at grain formation around July.
Growers see the grain replaced with a long, hard, black mass often slightly larger than the grains themselves.
It is these ‘sclerotia’ that are primed to release spores on germination, ready to drop to the soil and start the life cycle again. In the heap, sclerotia can be easily mistaken for rodent faeces.
In the field, there is no easy solution to remove ergot, other than to use an appropriate seed treatment at drilling.
However, if ergot is seen in store there are steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of exposure to toxins.
Ergot sclerotia can be cleaned out to some extent using sieves in a grain cleaner, with the caveat that any grain-sized pieces, powder, or fragments broken off during the cleaning process will slip through.
The most effective way to remove ergot sclerotia is by using a colour sorter. These can be sourced through many mobile seed treatment firms and can reduce the alkaloid levels in grain.
Lameness is often the first sign of ergot in animals, followed by an increase in temperature and respiratory rate.
Affected animals may have reduced performance, weight loss and rough coats, while skin in extremities such as the tips of tails, ears or near hooves may turn necrotic.
