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Uptake of deoxynivalenol by earthworms from Fusarium-infected wheat straw

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Abstract

Conservation tillage combined with crop-residue mulching is increasingly important to meet soil protection targets. Concurrently, the health risk of soil-borne pathogenic fungi like Fusarium species, which produce deoxynivalenol (DON) as their major mycotoxin, is increasing. The detritivorous earthworm species Lumbricus terrestris takes part in the efficient degradation of Fusarium-infected and DON-contaminated wheat straw. Against this background, a laboratory study was conducted to quantify by means of ELISA technique the uptake of DON and its possible absorption and accumulation in tissue by L. terrestris in the short-term (5 weeks) and long-term (11 weeks). The DON concentrations in L. terrestris of the Fusarium-infected treatment were significantly different in the order of gut tissue > body wall > gut content at both dates with a decline in the long-term. The DON concentrations in the tissues decreased by an order of magnitude of weeks to months.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Joachim Brunotte for helpful advice with the experimental conception of this study and for providing the soil applied in the microcosms. The excellent technical assistance of Sabine El Sayed, Stefanie Schlißke, Bettina Schnauß, Sabine Peickert and Petra Romanczuk-Schulz is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biodiversity, Johann Heinrich von Thuenen Institute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fishery, Bundesallee 50, 38116, Braunschweig, Germany

    Stefan Schrader & Susanne Kramer

  2. Institute for Plant Protection in Field Crops and Grassland, Julius Kühn Institute, Federal Research Institute for Cultivated Plants, Messeweg 11/12, 38104, Braunschweig, Germany

    Elisabeth Oldenburg

  3. Department of Crop Science, Plant Pathology and Plant Protection, University of Göttingen, Grisebachstraße 6, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Joachim Weinert

Authors
  1. Stefan Schrader
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  2. Susanne Kramer
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  3. Elisabeth Oldenburg
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  4. Joachim Weinert
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Correspondence to Stefan Schrader.

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Schrader, S., Kramer, S., Oldenburg, E. et al. Uptake of deoxynivalenol by earthworms from Fusarium-infected wheat straw. Mycotox Res 25, 53–58 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12550-009-0007-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12550-009-0007-1

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