Fusarium metabolites in maize from regions of Northern Serbia in 2016-2017

ABSTRACT

The main objective of this study was to determine the presence of Fusarium metabolites in maize samples collected from different regions of Northern Serbia (Bačka, Banat and Srem) during a period of two years (2016–2017). A total of 458 maize samples were analysed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. A total of 40 metabolites were detected, where 94% of the samples contained at least 5 metabolites. Fumonisins (including B₁, B₂, B₃ and B₄), moniliformin and bikaverin were the most frequent (80–98%) Fusarium metabolites in both years. Furthermore, in samples from 2016, fumonisin A₁ and A₂, deoxynivalenol, deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside, zearalenone, culmorin, 15-hydroxyculmorin, fusapyron, fusaproliferin and aurofusarin were detected with frequencies of 58–80%. Levels of certain Fusarium metabolites in 2016 were higher on average due to increased humidity when compared to 2017, which was characterised by warm and dry conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Fusarium metabolites
• LC-MS/MS
• maize
• agricultural regions
• Northern Serbia
• weather conditions
• emerging mycotoxins

Acknowledgments

This paper is a result of the research conducted within Projects DS-2016-0059, “Faces of changing climate in Danube region: occurrence of mycotoxins in maize and suggesting the mitigation strategy” financed by funds of Multilateral Scientific and Technological Cooperation Projects in the Danube Region; European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 692195 (MultiCoop); Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (451-03-9/2021-14/ 200222) and Projects TR 31029 and III 46001.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).