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Occurrence of toxigenic strains of Fusarium in maize and barley in Germany

  • Food Microbiology
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Summary

A survey was made of maize and barley in Germany for the occurrence of toxigenic strains of Fusarium and of the mycotoxins produced in culture by these strains.

The following 6 species of Fusarium were found: F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. equiseti, F.oxysporum, F. poae, and F. tricinctum. The species most commonly isolated from bird-damaged maize ears was F. avenaceum while F. culmorum was consistently isolated from maize stem rot. The predominant species in barley grain was F. poae while F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, and F. tricinctum were also isolated frequently.

Cultures on autoclaved maize of all the Fusarium strains were assayed for toxicity by feeding to 1-day-old chickens for 14 days. Some strains of F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. equiseti, and F. oxysporum proved to be acutely toxic to chickens and caused mortality as well as marked reductions in weight gain and feed consumption. All the strains of F. poae and F. tricinctum had a low degree of toxicity.

Culture material of all the strains were analyzed for the presence of 11 known Fusarium mycotoxins. The following 4 mycotoxins were detected in the strains examined: moniliformin in 9 out of 9 F. avenaceum strains (2 to 760 ppm) and in the single strain of F. oxysporum (1150 ppm); zearalenone in 4 out of 5 F. culmorum strains (320 to 1400 ppm); deoxynivalenol in 3 out of 5 F. culmorum strains.(1 to 15 ppm); and acetyldeoxynivalenol (1 to 2 ppm) in 3 out of 5 F. culmorum strains. This is the first report of moniliformin production by F. avenaceum and F. oxysporum and also the first report of the occurrence of moniliformin-producing Fusarium strains in Europe.

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Author notes

  1. W. F. O. Marasas

    Present address: National Research Institute for Nutritional Diseases, P.O. Box 70, 7505, Tygerberg, South Africa

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal Meat Research Institute, Oskar-von-Miller Str. 20, D-8650, Kulmbach, Federal Republic of Germany

    W. F. O. Marasas, L. Leistner, G. Hofmann & C. Eckardt

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  1. W. F. O. Marasas
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  2. L. Leistner
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  3. G. Hofmann
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  4. C. Eckardt
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Marasas, W.F.O., Leistner, L., Hofmann, G. et al. Occurrence of toxigenic strains of Fusarium in maize and barley in Germany. European J. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 7, 289–305 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00498024

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