Fusarium mycotoxins in UK wheat production

摘要

The European Commission has set maximum levels for fusarium mycotoxins in unprocessed cereals and cereal foodstuffs intended for human consumption. Legislation for deoxynivalenol and zearalenone will be introduced in July 2006. A five-year investigation was started in 2001 to assess the level of fusarium mycotoxin contamination in UK wheat production and the extent to which agronomic factors such as variety, crop rotation, land cultivation and fungicide application could affect this contamination. Each year c. 300 samples of wheat from fields of known agronomy were collected and analysed for ten trichothecenes and zearalenone. Results from the first four years have shown that the incidence of mycotoxins was generally low. Only five mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, HT2, T2 and zearalenone) were detected in more than 5% of the samples tested. Of these deoxynivalenol was the predominant mycotoxin found, although the results are from selected samples rather than a stratified survey and thereforemay not accurately represent the true UK situation. Preliminary statistical analysis of the four year dataset has shown that maize as previous crop in combination with minimum cultivation are important agronomic factors for deoxynivalenol contamination.Results from the completed project will be used to determine "Good Agricultural Practice" to minimise mycotoxin contamination of wheat.