The occurrence of mycotoxins in sweet maize hybrids

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to investigate the susceptibility of maize hybrids to the natural mycotoxins contamination: aflatoxin total (AFLA), deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenon (ZEA) and fumonisins (FB). Hybrids were grown during two production years (2019 and 2020) in two locations. Mycotoxin contamination of maize grains was evaluated in five sweet maize hybrids. Contamination level of investigated hybrids of first cluster was mainly by below average values of ZEA (all equal to zero) and DON. Hybrids PK4 (S) 2020, PK6 (MS) 2020 and PK4 (MS) 2020 had below average values for AFLA, while remaining treatments of this cluster have mostly elevated values of this mycotoxin. Contamination level of investigated hybrids of second cluster mostly had increased values of mycotoxins ZEA and DON and below average values of AFLA. Samples did not contain fumonisins. Mycotoxin contamination were significantly affected by hybrids and years. We have established that DON and ZEA levels were influenced by the environmental conditions. There were no significant effects of location on the level of AFLA in the sweet maize hybrids. The variation in the properties of mycotoxin content (DON) was significantly influenced by hybrids, and there was no significance of hybrids x location interaction. Differences were more expressed for the content of ZEA and AFLA compared to the content of DON. Hybrid PK1 had the lowest content of DON, while it had the highest content of ZEA. Mycotoxin analyses showed that in all tested hybrids, levels of AFLA, DON, ZEA and FBs were below the maximum permissible levels stipulated by the legislation of the European Union and the Republic of Serbia in maize intended for direct human consumption. These results confirmed that the susceptibility of hybrids is one of the important risks, in addition to climatic factors, for the appearance of toxigenic fungi and their mycotoxins. Genotype tolerance is very important as a preventive measure, which indicates that breeders have to pay attention to it in sweet maize breeding programs.

Cilj ovog rada bio je da se prouči osteljivost hibrida kukuruza na prirodnu kontaminaciju mikotoksinima (aflatoksin B1 (AFB1), deoksnivalenol (DON), zearalenol (ZEA) i fumonizini (FB)). Hibrdi su gajeni tokom dve proizvodne godine (2019. i 2020) u dve lokacije. Kontaminacija zrna kukuruza mikotoksinima ispitivana je na pet hibrida kukuruza šećerca. Nivo kontaminacije proučavanih hibrida prvog klastera bio je uglavnom ispod prosečnih vrednosti ZEA (sve vrednosti su bile nula) i DON. Vrednosti AFLA kod hibrida PK4 (S) 2020, PK6 (MS) 2020 i PK4 (MS) 2020 su bile ispod prosečne vrednosti, dok su vrednosti ovog mikotoksina bile više od prosečnih vrednosti za ostale tretmane ovog klastera. Nivoi kontaminacije proučavanih hibrida drugog klastera su uglavnom bili viši za mikotoksine ZEA i DON i niži za AFLA. Fumnonizni nisu utrvđreni u uzorcima. Na kontaminaciju mikotoksinima značajno su uticali hibiridi i godine. Utvrđeno je da su uslovi sredine uticali na nivoe DON i ZEA. Lokacija nije značajno uticala na nivo AFLA kod hibrida kukuruza šećerca. Hibridi su značajno uticali na variranje sadržaja mikotoksina (DON), dok hibrid × lokacija interakcija nije bila značajna. Razlike su bile izraženije za sadržaj ZEA i ALFA nego za sadržaj DON. Najniži sadržaj DON utvrđen je kod hibrida PK1, kod koga je sadržaj ZEA bio najviši. Analize mikotoksina pokazuju da su nivoi AFLA, DON, ZEA i FB u svim ispitivanim hibridima bili ispod maksimalno dozvoljenih nivoa koji su propisani zankonima Evropske Unije i Republike Srbije za kukuruz koji je namenjen za direktnu ljudsku konzumaciju. Ovi rezultati potvrđuju da je osetljivost hibrida jedan od važnih rizika pored klimatskih faktora za pojavu toksigenih gljiva i njihovih mikotoksima. Tolerantnost genotipa je veoma važna preventivna mera, na koju oplemenjivači moraju da obrate pažnju u programima oplemenjivanja kukuruza šećerca.