Toxigenic profile of Alternaria alternata and Alternaria radicina occurring on umbelliferous plants

Abstract

Alternaria alternata and Alternaria radicina are fungal species that occur in several food crops and may produce mycotoxins and phytotoxins. The toxigenic profile of A. alternata and A. radicina isolated from carrot and other umbelliferous plants was determined by growing the fungus on rice and carrot discs. Most of the tested isolates of A. alternata produced the mycotoxins tenuazonic acid, alternariol, alternariol methyl ether and altertoxin–I on rice. Only alternariol and alternariol methyl ether were produced on carrot discs. When cultured on rice, none of the isolates of A. alternata from umbelliferous plants produced AAL toxins and fumonisins. AAL toxins, but not fumonisins, were instead produced by A. alternata f. sp. lycopersici isolate NRRL 18822 isolated from tomato. A. radicina produced the phytotoxic compounds radicinin, epi–radicinol and radicinol on carrot discs, whereas it produced radicinin and radicinol on rice. Although A. alternata has been frequently found in organic carrots, none of the above mycotoxins was detected in carrot roots or in carrot commercial products. The reduction of alternariol and alternariol methyl ether during carrot juice processing at laboratory scale was estimated to be >98%. Based on these findings and previous reports, it can be concluded that Alternaria mycotoxins in carrots do not represent a hazard for consumers.

Keywords:

• Alternaria
• mycotoxins
• phytotoxins
• radicinols
• alternariols
• tenuazonic acid
• fumonisin
• AAL toxin
• carrots

Acknowledgements

Work was supported by the European Commission, Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources Programme, Key Action 1 on Food, Nutrition and Health (Contract No. QLK1-1999-0986), and the State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN), Poland. The authors are grateful to Gianpaolo Pacelli for valuable technical assistance, to Ronald Driessen, Kees Langerak, Carin van Tongeren, Mirjana Milošević, Finn V. Povlsen, Giovanni Vannacci and Emory G. Simmons for seeds and fungal isolates supplied for the study.