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Fusarium species and mycotoxin profiles on commercial maize hybrids in Germany

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Abstract

High year-to-year variability in the incidence of Fusarium spp. and mycotoxin contamination was observed in a two-year survey investigating the impact of maize ear rot in 84 field samples from Germany. Fusarium verticillioides, F. graminearum, and F. proliferatum were the predominant species infecting maize kernels in 2006, whereas in 2007 the most frequently isolated species were F. graminearum, F. cerealis and F. subglutinans. Fourteen Fusarium-related mycotoxins were detected as contaminants of maize kernels analyzed by a multi-mycotoxin determination method. In 2006, a growth season characterized by high temperature and low rainfall during anthesis and early grain filling, 75% of the maize samples were contaminated with deoxynivalenol, 34% with fumonisins and 27% with zearalenone. In 2007, characterized by moderate temperatures and frequent rainfall during the entire growth season, none of the 40 maize samples had quantifiable levels of fumonisins while deoxynivalenol and zearalenone were detected in 90% and 93% of the fields, respectively. In addition, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, 15-acetyldeoxnivalenol, moniliformin, beauvericin, nivalenol and enniatin B were detected as common contaminants produced in both growing seasons. The results demonstrate a significant mycotoxin contamination associated with maize ear rots in Germany and indicate, with regard to anticipated climate change, that fumonisins-producing species already present in German maize production may become more important.

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Abbreviations

Tef:

translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene

DON:

deoxynivalenol

FBs:

fumonisins

ZEA:

zearalenone

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia for financing a LC-MS/MS system and to the German Meteorological Service for supplying the meteorological data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Phytomedicine, Nussallee 9, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Andreas Goertz, Ulrike Steiner, Heinz W. Dehne & Erich C. Oerke

  2. Institute of Environmental Research, Dortmund University of Technology, Otto-Hahn-Str. 6, 44221, Dortmund, Germany

    Sebastian Zuehlke & Michael Spiteller

  3. Plant Research International BV, Biointeractions and Plant Health, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6700, AA Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Cees Waalwijk & Ineke de Vries

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  1. Andreas Goertz
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Correspondence to Andreas Goertz.

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Goertz, A., Zuehlke, S., Spiteller, M. et al. Fusarium species and mycotoxin profiles on commercial maize hybrids in Germany. Eur J Plant Pathol 128, 101–111 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-010-9634-9

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