Aflatoxins in maize harvested in the Republic of Serbia over the period 2012–2016

ABSTRACT

Aflatoxins (AFs) are one of the most frequent contaminants in maize. The Republic of Serbia represents a leader in terms of maize production and exports in Europe. In recent years, Serbia faced climate changes. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to examine AF occurrence in 3000 maize samples collected during 2012–2016. In maize samples from 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016, AFs were detected in 72.3%, 24.7%, 36.7%, and 5.0% of the samples, in concentration ranges of 1.0–111.2, 1.2–65.2, 1.1–76.2, and 1.3–6.9 µg kg⁻¹, respectively. Contrary to this, in maize samples from 2014, no AFs were detected. Analysis of weather conditions indicates that 2012 was characterised by extreme drought conditions, 2013 and 2015 by lack of precipitation and high air temperatures, 2014 as the rainiest year in these years, while 2016 had moderate weather conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Aflatoxins
• maize
• Republic of Serbia
• weather conditions
• temperature
• precipitation
• rainfall

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the staff and management of Laboratory (FINSLab) at Institute of Food Technology in Novi Sad.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This paper is a result of the research conducted within Project TR 31029 and III 46001 financed by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia.