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Rising atmospheric CO2 concentration may imply higher risk of Fusarium mycotoxin contamination of wheat grains

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Abstract

Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration not only has a direct impact on plants but also affects plant–pathogen interactions. Due to economic and health-related problems, special concern was given thus in the present work to the effect of elevated CO2 (750 μmol mol−1) level on the Fusarium culmorum infection and mycotoxin contamination of wheat. Despite the fact that disease severity was found to be not or little affected by elevated CO2 in most varieties, as the spread of Fusarium increased only in one variety, spike grain number and/or grain weight decreased significantly at elevated CO2 in all the varieties, indicating that Fusarium infection generally had a more dramatic impact on the grain yield at elevated CO2 than at the ambient level. Likewise, grain deoxynivalenol (DON) content was usually considerably higher at elevated CO2 than at the ambient level in the single-floret inoculation treatment, suggesting that the toxin content is not in direct relation to the level of Fusarium infection. In the whole-spike inoculation, DON production did not change, decreased or increased depending on the variety × experiment interaction. Cooler (18 °C) conditions delayed rachis penetration while 20 °C maximum temperature caused striking increases in the mycotoxin contents, resulting in extremely high DON values and also in a dramatic triggering of the grain zearalenone contamination at elevated CO2. The results indicate that future environmental conditions, such as rising CO2 levels, may increase the threat of grain mycotoxin contamination.

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Abbreviations

AUDPC:

Area under the disease progress curve

DON:

Deoxynivalenol

FHB:

Fusarium head blight

SFI:

Single-floret inoculation

ZEN:

Zearalenone

WSI:

Whole-spike inoculation

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund—OTKA, K-105949. The contribution of K. Puskás to this manuscript was supported by the European Union and the State of Hungary, co-financed by the European Social Fund in the framework of the TÁMOP-4.2.4.A/2-11/1-2012-0001 ‘National Excellence Program’. The contribution of K. Balla was supported by the János Bólyai Research Scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Breeding Department, Agricultural Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Brunszvik u. 2, Martonvásár, 2462, Hungary

    Szilvia Bencze, Ildikó Karsai, Krisztina Balla & Judit Komáromi

  2. Cereal Breeding Department, Agricultural Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Brunszvik u. 2, Martonvásár, 2462, Hungary

    Katalin Puskás, Gyula Vida & Ottó Veisz

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  1. Szilvia Bencze
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  2. Katalin Puskás
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  4. Ildikó Karsai
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Correspondence to Szilvia Bencze.

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Bencze, S., Puskás, K., Vida, G. et al. Rising atmospheric CO2 concentration may imply higher risk of Fusarium mycotoxin contamination of wheat grains. Mycotoxin Res 33, 229–236 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12550-017-0281-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12550-017-0281-2

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