Occurrence of beauvericin and enniatins in wheat affected by Fusarium avenaceum head blight

We evaluated Fusarium contamination and the levels of hexadepsipeptide mycotoxins in 13 wheat samples affected by head blight in Finland. Fusarium avenaceum was the dominant species (91%) isolated from all samples, but isolates of F. culmorum (4%), F. tricinctum (3%), and F. poae (2%) also were recovered. Beauvericin (0.64 to 3.5 mug/g) was detected in all 13 samples. Enniatin B (trace to 4.8 mug/g) was detected in 12 samples, enniatin B, (trace to 1.9 mug/g) was detected in 8 samples, and enniatin A, (trace to 6.9 mug/g) was detected in 10 samples. Ten of 13 strains of F. avenacelim and 2 strains of F. poae and F. tricinctum produced beauvericin in culture on rice (trace to 70, 9.4, and 33 mug/g, respectively). All strains also produced enniatins (trace to 2,700 mug/g). This is the first report on the natural cooccurence of beauvericin and enniatins in wheat infected predominantly by F. avenaceum.