Natural Occurrence of Fusarium Species, Fumonisin Production by Toxigenic Strains, and Concentrations of Fumonisins B1 and B2 in Conventional and Organic Maize Grown in Spain

Abstract

Sixty samples of corn from both conventional and organic farms were tested for internal fungal contamination. Molds were identified to genus, and those belonging to the genus Fusarium were identified to species. Twenty isolates of Fusarium verticillioides were tested with a high-performance liquid chromatography-naphthalene dicarboxaldehyde-fluorescence method for their ability to produce fumonisins B1 and B2. The internal fungal infection in organic maize (63.20%) was significantly higher than that in conventional maize (40.27%) (P < 0.05). However, the distribution of fungal genera indicated a significantly higher prevalence of Fusarium in conventional (34.93%) than in organic (18.15%) maize, making Fusarium the predominant fungus in conventional maize. This difference in mold distribution between organic and conventional maize was attributed to the difference in cultivation system. The dominant Fusarium species in both conventional and organic samples was F. verticillioides. There were no significant differences in the ability of 20 selected isolates of F. verticillioides to produce fumonisins on conventional or organic corn. Up to 13.3% of the conventional corn samples contained fumonisins B1 and B2 at mean concentrations of 43 and 22 ng/g, respectively. Organic corn samples had somewhat lower levels of contamination: 35 ng/g fumonisin B1 and 19 ng/g fumonisin B2 (P > 0.05). The organic farming system, with well-balanced crop rotation, tillage, and compost fertilization, produced corn that was less likely to be contaminated with Fusarium species, although no significant difference in fumonisin concentrations was found between the two types of contaminated corn.

Screening survey of co-production of fusaric acid, fusarin C, and fumonisins B1, B2 and B3 by Fusarium strains grown in maize grains

“…F. verticillioides IV B011 strain was able to produce relatively high amounts of toxins . A similar trend was also observed by Arino et al (2007), Brown et al (2012) and Butchko et al (2012). The highest concentration of fusarin C (0.7 mg L −1 ) was produced by the strain of F. verticillioides III K048.…”

“…Recently, a new species of Fusarium temperatum, morphologically similar and phylogenetically close to Fusarium subglutinans was isolated from maize in Belgium (Scauflaire et al 2011). Over the past years, it was demonstrated that Fusarium species can produce mycotoxins such as fusarin C, fusaric acid, fumonisins B 1 (FB 1 ), FB 2 and FB 3 (Porter et al 1995;Cantalejo et al 1999;Song et al 2004;Arino et al 2007). Figure 1 presents the chemical structures of these mycotoxins which exhibit various toxic effects to plants and animals and may pose a potential health risk for humans.…”

Natural occurrence of fumonisins B1and B2in corn in four provinces of China

“…The natural occurrence of FBs in corn resulted from the wide distribution and the endophytic nature of Fusarium verticillioides in corn. Later, surveys were carried out to determine the levels of (Arino et al 2007;Silva et al 2007;Cano-Sancho et al 2012) and Argentina (Broggi et al 2007). Corn is considered the most important source of FBs in the human diet, and, for this reason, several countries have introduced specific regulations for the maximum content of FBs in cereals.…”

Fumonisin B1 alters cell cycle progression and interleukin‐2 synthesis in swine peripheral blood mononuclear cells

“…Recent surveys have raised concerns about the extent of FB 1 contamination and its implication for food safety [6,7]. Studies published in 2007, showed that in Portugal fumonisins were found in 22% of cereals samples at concentrations between 113 and 2026 ppb [8] while in Spain up to 13.3% of the conventional corn samples contained fumonisins B 1 and B 2 at mean concentrations of 43 and 22 ppb [9]. For human exposure, the potential danger is mostly but not exclusively from homegrown corn in underdeveloped countries as Iran [10 -12].…”