Co-occurrence of Fusarium mycotoxins in mouldy and healthy corn from Korea

Abstract

A total of 71 samples consisting of 36 mouldy and 35 visibly healthy corn were collected from Kangwon province of Korea and analysed for 8-ketotrichothecenes, zearalenone (ZEA), and fumonisins, including fumonisin B₁ (FB₁), fumonisin B₂ (FB₂), and fumonisin B₃ (FB₃). Five 8-ketotrichothecenes, namely deoxynivalenol (DON), 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-ADON), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3-ADON), nivalenol (NIV), and 4-acetylnivalenol (4-ANIV), ZEA, FB₁, FB₂, and FB₃ were detected in corn samples. DON, 15-ADON, 3-ADON, NIV, 4-ANIV, ZEA, FB₁, FB₂, and FB₃ were detected in mouldy corn with mean values of 4.0, 0.9, 0.2, 1.7, 0.4, 0.6, 23.2, 7.5, and 6.3μg/g, respectively. Visibly healthy corn samples were contaminated with lower levels of 8-ketotrichothecenes, ZEA, and fumonisins than mouldy corn samples. However, 5 of 35 healthy corn samples analysed were contaminated with fumonisins at high levels up to 12.5μg/g for FB₁, 5.4μg/g for FB₂, and 0.5μg/g for FB₃. This is the first report on the simultaneous occurrence of trichothecenes, ZEA, and fumonisins in corn from Korea.