No abstract

The contamination of corn with fumonisin produced byFusariumspecies represents an important risk for humans and animals. The incidence ofFusariumspp. and contamination by fumonisin B1(FB1) were studied in field samples from 70 fields of corn during the 2005 and 2006 preharvest seasons in the province of Samsun, Turkey.Fusariumwas the predominant genus isolated from the field samples, withF. verticillioides,F. proliferatumandF. subglutinansbeing the most commonly isolated species. The occurrence ofFusariumspp. varied each year, from 97.14% to 78.57% in 2005 and 2006, respectively. The widespread occurrence of FB1was also observed across the Samsun province. All corn samples infected withF. verticillioides,F. proliferatumandF. subglutinanstested positive for FB1, but none were infected with FB2. Levels of FB1ranged from 0.28 to 8.48 mg kg-1in 2005 and from 0.11 to 2.77 mg kg-1in 2006. The concentration of FB1was lower than 2 mg kg-1in 63.6% of the samples, 28.8% contained from 2 mg kg-1to 5 mg kg-1, while 7.6% contained more than 5 mg kg-1. Our study shows that corn contamination with bothFusariumand FB1was present throughout the Samsun province, but it was strongly dependent on environmental and seasonal conditions. However, there was noFusariumcontamination in certain native white-type and popcorn-type cultivars in 2005 and 2006.