Fusarium head blight and associated mycotoxin occurrence on winter wheat in Luxembourg in 2007/2008

Abstract

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is among the major causes of reduced quality in winter wheat and its products. In addition, the causal fungi produce a variety of toxins. A relatively high FHB infection rate in winter wheat was observed in 2007 and 2008 in Luxembourg. A fusariotoxin survey was carried out in 17 different geographical locations. Three groups of Fusarium mycotoxins (trichothecenes A and B and zearalenone) were analysed by a multi-detection HPLC–MS/MS method. Fusarium strains were also investigated by morphological and molecular methods. In addition, questionnaires relating to cultural practices were sent to the farmers managing the 17 fields investigated. FHB prevalence ranged from 0.3 to 65.8% (mean: 8.5%) in 2007 and from 0 to 24.5% (mean: 8.3%) in 2008. Results of morphological and molecular identification showed that the most common species isolated from diseased wheat spikes was F. graminearum (33.1%), followed by F. avenaceum (20.3%) and F. poae (17.8%). The chemical analysis revealed that 75% of the investigated fields were contaminated by deoxynivalenol (DON, range 0–8111 µg/kg). The preceding crop was highly and significantly correlated to the number of grains infected and had a significant impact on disease prevalence (p = 0.025 and 0.017, respectively, Fisher's F-test). A trend was found for maize as the preceding crop (p = 0.084, Tukey's test) to predict the amount of DON in the fields. This is the first report on the occurrence of DON and ZON in naturally infected wheat grains sampled from Luxembourg.

Keywords:

• chromatography
• LC/MS
• mycology
• molecular biology
• PCR
• mycotoxins
• trichothecenes
• zearalenone
• cereals and grain

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the FNR (Fonds National de la Recherche) within the “FOOD-SAFETY (SECAL)” program and by the ASTA organization. For logistic support, we thank the Lycée Technique Agricole, Ettelbrück, and the Chambre d’Agriculture in Luxembourg. We are grateful for the valuable help of Servane Contal, Boris Untereiner and Johanna Ziebel, who aided in method development and extractions. Many thanks to Juergen Junk for supplying the climatological data and to Sonia Heitz for maps.