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Commercial maize hybrids are exposed to different degrees of ear infection by toxigenic fungal species and toxin contamination. Their resistance to different fungi and toxin relationships are largely unknown. Without this knowledge, screening and breeding are not possible for these pathogens. Seven- to tenfold differences were found in resistance to Fusarium spp., and there was a five-fold difference in ear coverage (%) in response to A. flavus. Three hybrids of the twenty entries had lower infection severity compared with the general means for toxigenic species. Three were highly susceptible to each, and 14 hybrids reacted differently to the different fungi. Differences were also observed in the toxin content. Again, three hybrids had lower toxin content in response to all toxigenic species, one had higher values for all, and 16 had variable resistance levels. Correlations between infection severity and deoxynivalenol (DON) content were 0.95 and 0.82 (p = 0.001) for F. graminearum and F. culmorum, respectively. For fumonisin and F. verticillioides ear rot, the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was 0.45 (p = 0.05). Two independent isolates with different aggressiveness were used, and their mean X values better described the resistance levels. This increased the reliability of the data. With the introduction of this methodological concept (testing the resistance levels separately for different fungi and with two isolates independently), highly significant resistance differences were found. The resistance to different fungal species correlated only in certain cases; thus, each should be tested separately. This is very useful in registration tests and post-registration screening and breeding. This would allow a rapid increase in food and feed safety.

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A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method has been proposed for the determination of imidacloprid residues in fortified potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.) and onion ( Allium cepa ) and in treated potato and onion samples. Sample preparation consisted of dichloromethane extraction of imidacloprid from the plant material, followed by purification of the obtained onion extract on an LC-Florisil disposable cartridge. The obtained potato extracts were further analyzed without purification. The HPLC-diode-array-detection (DAD) method has been developed on reversed phase for separation of imidacloprid with isocratic elution with a mixture of 0.01 M phosphate buffer (pH 3.15) and acetonitrile (75 : 25, v/v). Spectral data obtained with DAD allow the identification of imidacloprid residue. Detector response showed a linear dynamic range from 0.0125 to 0.500 µ g/mL. Imidacloprid was recovered from fortified samples in a range of 94-99%. The within-day RSD of repeatability of the retention time of imidacloprid standard solution was less than 0.1% and of the obtained peak area less than 5%. For potato and onion samples, the limits of detection were 0.0075 and 0.0060 mg/kg and the limits of determination were 0.015 and 0.012 mg/kg, respectively.