Suchergebnisse

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is an important disease of small grain cereals worldwide, resulting in reduced yield and quality as well as the contamination of harvested grains with mycotoxins. The key mycotoxin of concern is deoxynivalenol (DON), which has legislative and advisory limits in numerous countries. Cereal growers have a number of control options for FHB including rotation, cultivation, and varietal resistance; however, growers are still reliant on fungicides applied at flowering as part of an IPM program. Fungicides currently available to control FHB are largely restricted to triazole chemistry. This study conducted three field experiments to compare a new co-formulation of pydiflumetofen (a succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) with the tradename ADEPIDYN™) and prothioconazole (a triazole) against current standard fungicides at various timings (flag leaf fully emerged, mid-head emergence, early flowering, and late flowering) for the control of FHB and DON. Overall, the co-formulation showed greater efficacy compared to either pydiflumetofen alone or current fungicide chemistry. This greater activity was demonstrated over a wide range of spray timings (flag leaf fully emerged to late flowering). The availability of an SDHI with good activity against FHB and the resulting DON contamination of harvested grain will give growers an additional tool within an IPM program that will provide a greater flexibility of spray application windows and reduce fungicide resistance selection pressure.

Legislative limits for Fusarium mycotoxins decrease from unprocessed wheat to processed products. A previous observational study identified a seasonal difference in the distribution of deoxynivalenol (DON) but not zearalenone (ZON) within mill fractions. Rainfall is known to influence the production of these mycotoxins in wheat, but the effects of rainfall on their distribution within mill fractions is not known. Laboratory and field experiments were conducted to determine the impact of different watering regimes on the distribution of DON and ZON in wheat mill fractions. Results indicated that repeated wetting and drying could cause movement of DON towards equilibrium across the mill fractions. Whereas, high levels of rainfall could cause a large reduction of DON in the grain, predominantly from the bran fraction, resulting in a proportional increase within white flour. ZON was detectable in fewer samples but results indicated it is less mobile within the grain. It is important for processors to be aware of the variation of mycotoxin distribution within mill fractions and the drivers of this variation to ensure limits set for grain intake result in mill products within mycotoxin legislative limits.

There is a pressing need to mobilise the wealth of knowledge from the international mycotoxin research conducted over the past 25-30 years, and to perform cutting-edge research where knowledge gaps still exist. This knowledge needs to be integrated into affordable and practical tools for farmers and food processors along the chain in order to reduce the risk of mycotoxin contamination of crops, feed and food. This is the mission of MyToolBox – a four-year project which has received funding from the European Commission. It mobilises a multi-actor partnership (academia, farmers, technology small and medium sized enterprises, food industry and policy stakeholders) to develop novel interventions aimed at achieving a significant reduction in crop losses due to mycotoxin contamination. Besides a field-to-fork approach, MyToolBox also considers safe use options of contaminated batches, such as the efficient production of biofuels. Compared to previous efforts of mycotoxin reduction strategies, the distinguishing feature of MyToolBox is to provide the recommended measures to the end users along the food and feed chain in a web-based MyToolBox platform (e-toolbox). The project focuses on small grain cereals, maize, peanuts and dried figs, applicable to agricultural conditions in the EU and China. Crop losses using existing practices are being compared with crop losses after novel pre-harvest interventions including investigation of genetic resistance to fungal infection, cultural control (e.g. minimum tillage or crop debris treatment), the use of novel biopesticides suitable for organic farming, competitive biocontrol treatment and development of novel modelling approaches to predict mycotoxin contamination. Research into post-harvest measures includes real-time monitoring during storage, innovative sorting of crops using vision-technology, novel milling technology and studying the effects of baking on mycotoxins at an industrial scale.