Journal
FOOD AND CHEMICAL TOXICOLOGY
Volume 49, Issue 9, Pages 2365-2369Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2011.06.047
Keywords
Maize; Fusarium; Aspergillus; Penicillium; Mycotoxins; Fumonisins
Categories
Funding
- Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia [2006.020.0297]
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Surveys were carried out in 2006 and 2007 in Umbria (central Italy) to evaluate the presence of mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxins in maize grain sampled at harvest. Fusarium spp., were the most abundant species detected in maize kernels, followed by Aspergillus species of sections Flavi and Nigri and by Penicillium spp. Among Fusarium species, F. verticillioides was the most prevalent species, as detected by PCR directly on the kernels and on the fungi isolated from the kernels, followed by F. proliferatum and F. subglutinans. Fumonisins were the predominant mycotoxins with values, on average, of 4.3 and 5.7 mg kg(-1), in 2006 and 2007, respectively, with a maximum of 76.3 mg kg(-1) in the second year. Deoxynivalenol ranged from 0.2 to 3.98 mg kg(-1), in 2006 (average 1.04 mg kg(-1)) and from undetectable levels to 14 mg kg(-1) in 2007 (average 0.86 mg kg(-1)). Aflatoxins, analyzed only in 2007, averaged 26.3 lig kg(-1), with a maximum of 820 mu g kg(-1). Zearalenone content was always very low. Results indicate that EU legal limits for these mycotoxins were rarely exceeded with low levels across most of the examined area, suggesting that this region could be considered suitable for the production of healthy maize. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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