Abstract
Fusarium head blight (FHB) is an important disease of wheat and production of mycotoxins makes it a major threat in most wheat-producing areas worldwide. This study aimed to identify the impact of epidemic FHB conditions (usage of artificial Fusarium inoculation) on mycotoxin levels in unprocessed wheat. Fusarium levels were monitored at two locations in two treatments (natural infection and inoculation with Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum) where 13 mycotoxins were evaluated by LC/MS-MS in six winter wheat varieties. Due to favorable conditions for infection with Fusarium fungi during the flowering period at location Tovarnik, wheat varieties had higher disease severity and increased mycotoxin accumulation, compared to Osijek. The most abundant mycotoxins in treatment with inoculation with Fusarium fungi were deoxynivalenol (DON), culmorin (CUL) and hydroxyculmorins. In treatment with natural infection, DON did not exceed maximum limits set by EU. Varieties with lower initial resistance accumulated DON even in naturally infected samples at Tovarnik. These results highlighted the impact of environment variation in the production of Fusarium mycotoxins where FHB initial resistance had a higher impact on the accumulation of mycotoxins than general resistance. Furthermore, wheat samples with higher DON concentration also contained elevated levels of CUL and hydroxyculmorins, showing that CUL can have a possible role in Fusarium virulence. The FHB evaluations provide important information about the genetic resistance of wheat varieties, as well as risk assessment considering mycotoxin accumulation in epidemic conditions.
Highlights
Wheat is one of the major staple and one of the “big three” cereal crops with an annual worldwide production of over 600 million tons [1]
Fungal secondary metabolites commonly found in wheat grains are deoxynivalenol (DON), a type B trichothecene, and zearalenone (ZEN), while predominant species producing these mycotoxins in Europe are found to be F. graminearum, F. culmorum and F. avenaceum [30]
At Osijek, the average level of aurofusarin was in accordance with previous study [64], while at Tovarnik it was observed in much higher concentrations implying that there is a certain connection between the production of major Fusarium mycotoxins and pigments
Summary
Wheat is one of the major staple and one of the “big three” cereal crops with an annual worldwide production of over 600 million tons [1]. Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum are the most dominant and prevalent species causing FHB worldwide, as well as in Croatia [6], where they can be highly aggressive and can produce abundant mycotoxins. Less aggressive species are still of great concern since their development with other more aggressive pathogens can lead to the accumulation of mycotoxins, even if the symptoms of the disease are not expressed to such an extent [2]. Another factor influencing mycotoxin content are optimal climatic conditions for disease development, namely temperature and water availability, which depend on the local and regional environment. Mycotoxin production by F. graminearum and F. culmorum seems to be stimulated by narrower weather conditions than that for growth [12]
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