Influence of agronomic and climatic factors on Fusarium infestation and mycotoxin contamination of cereals in Norway

Figures & data

Table 1. (Panel a) Agronomic continuous data for paired samples of cereals given as medians with minimum–maximum values. For comparison of organic and conventional data a Wilcoxon statistical method was used. (Panel b) Agronomic numeric data for paired samples of cereals.

	Barley		Oats		Wheat
	Organic Conventional		Organic Conventional		Organic Conventional
Panel a
Area
(ha)	3.0	6.7	3.1	5.0	3.4	6.9
	(0.1–24)	(0.1–37)	(0.1–20)	(0.3–27)	(0.1–24)	(1.0–80)
	p < 0.001		p = 0.002		p < 0.001
N	107	108	100	100	92	90
Cereal yield
(tons/ha)	3.0	4.2	3.4	4.8	3.0	4.5
	(0.4–5.5)	(2.5–6.8)	(0.5–6.0)	(2.0–7.5)	(1.0–5.4)	(1.7–7.5)
	p < 0.001		p < 0.001		p < 0.001
N	104	107	98	99	89	91
Lodged field
(%)	0	2	0	5	0	0
	(0–85)	(0–90)	(0–100)	(0–100)	(0–20)	(0–50)
	p = 0.004		p = 0.010		p = 0.132
N	106	106	101	100	91	91
Moisture content
(2003–2004) (%)	17.0	15.5	15.5	14.7	16.5	15.0
	(10.1–30.4)	(11.2–31.4)	(10.0–27.5)	(10.7–22.5)	(11.6–30.0)	(11.0–23.7)
	p = 0.003		p = 0.009		p = 0.068
N	74	75	75	75	56	57
Panel b
Soil
Sand	19	18	14	7	9	5
Silt	26	15	18	25	17	21
Clay	53	58	59	60	62	60
Not registered	10	17	10	9	4	6
Preceding crop
Same cereal species	20	48	28	42	12	32
Other cereal species	27	41	35	56	14	35
Other crops	48	15	31	2	33	7
Not registered	13	4	7	1	7	3
Soil cultivation (2004)
Reduced tillage	3	2	1	1	0	3
Harrowed	0	5	1	4	0	5
Ploughed	32	28	32	29	27	19
Fertiliser
None	17	0	22	1	14	0
Mineral	0	76	1	80	2	78
Animal manure	86	3	71	3	62	0
Other	5	0	6	0	10	0
Not registered	0	29	1	17	4	14
Fungicide
Not used	108	63	101	93	92	20
Used	0	43	0	7	0	72
Not registered	0	2	0	1	0	0
Herbicide
Not used	108	25	101	24	92	10
Used	0	82	0	77	0	82
Not registered	0	1	0	0	0	0
Insecticide
Not used	108	90	101	89	92	62
Used	0	14	0	12	0	26
Not registered	0	4	0	0	0	4
Plant growth regulator (2003–2004)
Not used	75	63	75	64	57	50
Used	0	12	0	11	0	6
Not registered	0	0	0	0	0	1
Catch crop
None	31	95	37	93	22	77
Grass/clover	70	11	62	7	65	12
Other	5	2	1	1	4	2
Not registered	2	0	1	0	1	1
Note: N, number of sampled fields where the respective data were recorded.

Table 2. Percentage of cereal kernels infested with total Fusarium, F. graminearum and F. langsethiae and concentrations (µg kg⁻¹) of deoxynivalenol (DON) and HT-2 toxin in paired samples of organically and conventionally produced barley, oats and wheat. The Wilcoxon statistical method was used.

		Organic			Conventional			p-value
		Mean	Median	95%	Mean	Median	95%
Barley	Total Fusarium	81	87	100	85	92	100	0.020
N = 108	F. graminearum	8	2	28	10	4	43	0.028
	F. langsethiae	<2	<2	2	<2	<2	2	0.774
	DON	44	<20	154	44	<20	207	0.167
	HT-2	<20	<20	36	21	<20	57	<0.001
Oats	Total Fusarium	81	84	100	86	92	100	0.029
N = 101	F. graminearum	11	4	44	19	6	90	0.027
	F. langsethiae	2	<2	6	3	<2	12	0.028
	DON	114	24	447	426	36	2056	0.056
	HT-2	80	<20	271	117	62	427	0.001
Wheat	Total Fusarium	64	65	98	75	80	98	0.001
N = 92	F. graminearum	7	4	23	10	2	32	0.177
	F. langsethiae	<2	<2	<2	<2	<2	2	0.033
	DON	86	29	358	170	51	797	0.016
	HT-2	n.d.			n.d.
Note: n.d., Not detected.
Source: Bernhoft et al. (2010).

Table 3. Agronomic factors and climate factors influencing the infestation of total Fusarium, F. graminearum and its major mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON), and F. langsethiae and its major mycotoxin HT-2 toxin in cereals.

	Estimate	SD	p-value
Total Fusarium explained 12%
Use of fungicide	0.116	0.015	4.6 × 10^−14
Use of herbicide	−0.097	0.016	5.3 × 10^−10
Use of mineral fertiliser	0.113	0.022	3.5 × 10^−7
Lodged field	0.001	0.0002	3.4 × 10^−6
Preceding crop other cereal species	0.039	0.012	8.5 × 10^−4
With climate factors included, explained 14%
Precipitation in July	0.064	0.007	<10^−16
Use of fungicide	0.114	0.015	1.2 × 10^−14
Lodged field	0.001	0.0002	3.7 × 10^−8
Use of herbicide	−0.077	0.016	8.6 × 10^−7
Use of mineral fertiliser	0.106	0.022	2.1 × 10^−6
Preceding crop other cereal species	0.041	0.012	4.2 × 10^−4
Fusarium graminearum explained 11%
Preceding crop other cereal species	0.506	0.033	<10^−16
Clay soil	−0.524	0.040	<10^−16
Use of mineral fertiliser	0.542	0.077	1.7 × 10^−12
Lodged field	0.004	0.0006	1.6 × 10^−11
Silty soil	−0.291	0.045	6.8 × 10^−11
Use of herbicide	0.282	0.049	6.2 × 10^−9
Use of green manure	0.513	0.089	8.6 × 10^−9
Use of animal manure	0.252	0.063	5.9 × 10^−5
Use of insecticide	−0.167	0.046	3.2 × 10^−4
With climate factors included, explained 30%
Precipitation in July	−0.581	0.024	<10^−16
Air humidity at harvest	0.131	0.004	<10^−16
Preceding crop other cereal species	0.522	0.033	<10^−16
Clay soil	−0.423	0.041	<10^−16
Use of mineral fertiliser	0.631	0.074	<10^−16
Use of animal manure	0.352	0.063	2.6 × 10^−8
Lodged field	−0.004	0.001	2.9 × 10^−8
Use of green manure	0.440	0.090	9.4 × 10^−7
Use of herbicide	0.209	0.048	1.6 × 10^−5
DON explained 5%
Preceding crop other cereal species	0.471	0.116	5.0 × 10^−5
With climate factors included, explained 10%
Preceding crop other cereal species	0.473	0.115	4.0 × 10^−5
Temperature at harvest	−0.072	0.019	1.2 × 10^−4
Fusarium langsethiae explained 11%
Preceding crop non-cereal species	−1.199	0.021	5.6 × 10^−9
Lodged field	−0.019	0.004	4.7 × 10^−8
Preceding crop other cereal species	0.546	0.116	2.7 × 10^−6
Use of herbicide	0.389	0.114	6.4 × 10^−4
With climate factors included, explained 15%
Temperature in July	0.310	0.091	2.8 × 10^−10
Preceding crop non-cereal species	−1.218	0.208	4.6 × 10^−9
Preceding crop other cereal species	0.604	0.118	2.9 × 10^−7
Lodged field	−0.015	0.004	3.9 × 10^−5
HT-2 toxin explained 16%
Preceding crop non-cereal species	− 1.080	0.215	5.3 × 10^−7
With climate factors included, explained 18%
Air humidity at harvest	0.116	0.017	2.6 × 10^−11
Preceding crop non-cereal species	−1.139	0.215	1.2 × 10^−7
Notes: Variances are related to cereal species and regions are corrected for. Factor estimates with standard deviations for p < 0.001 are shown.

Table 4. Names and numbers of cereal varieties representing at least five samples from each farming system used in the sampled fields.

	Organic	Conventional	p-value
Barley
Arve	5	5
Fusarium	84	84	0.675
DON	<20	<20	0.317
HT-2	<20	<20	1.000
Gaute	14	5
Fusarium	91	100	0.211
DON	<20	87	0.548
HT-2	<20	<20	0.550
Kinnan	8	16
Fusarium	83	76	0.877
DON	<20	<20	0.343
HT-2	<20	27	0.027
Sunita	30	11
Fusarium	87	84	0.605
DON	<20	<20	0.085
HT-2	<20	21	0.002
Thule N	8	9
Fusarium	88	100	0.024
DON	<20	43	0.007
HT-2	<20	<20	0.822
Ven N	21	11
Fusarium	82	82	0.632
DON	<20	<20	0.630
HT-2	<20	<20	0.240
Oats
Belinda	20	43
Fusarium	83	94	0.645
DON	<20	26	0.179
HT-2	59	99	0.194
Biri	37	19
Fusarium	88	94	0.781
DON	<20	27	0.566
HT-2	<20	31	0.412
Lena	22	16
Fusarium	86	96	0.162
DON	114	468	0.043
HT-2	<20	49	0.001
Wheat
Avle	50	40
Fusarium	69	75	0.034
DON	22	25	0.883
Bastian	22	18
Fusarium	65	87	0.288
DON	62	82	0.391
Zebra	9	21
Fusarium	66	82	0.012
DON	164	254	0.556
Note: The median percentage of total Fusarium infestation and median concentrations (µg kg^−1) of major mycotoxins with results of Wilcoxon statistics are presented.

Table 5. Median percentage of total Fusarium infestation and median concentrations (µg kg⁻¹) of major mycotoxins in each cereal species in 2004 in fields after reduced soil tillage, only harrowing or traditional cultivation with ploughing.

	Reduced	Harrowed	Ploughed
Barley
N	5	5	60
Fusarium	100	94	80	p = 0.032
DON	<20	60	<20	p = 0.110
HT-2	<20	<20	<20	p = 0.468
Oats
N	2	5	61
Fusarium	92	100	86	p = 0.134
DON	<20	<20	42	p = 0.256
HT-2	144	41	<20	p = 0.186
Wheat
N	3	5	46
Fusarium	72	64	70	p = 0.772
DON	95	254	138	p = 0.969
Note: p-values are from the Kruskal–Wallis statistical method.

Bernhoft , A , Clasen , P-E , Kristoffersen , AB and Torp , M . 2010 . Less Fusarium infestation and mycotoxin contamination in organic than in conventional cereals . Food Addit Contam , 27 ( 6 ) : 842 – 852 .

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