MON 810 maize was developed against Ostrinia nubilalis and is suggested to indirectly decrease Fusarium spp. infestation in maize ears. To evaluate this effect, co-occurrence of insect and fungal pests on MON 810 maize was studied. During 2009, exceptionally high maize ear infestation occurred in Julianna-major (Hungary). From investigation of some thousands of maize ears, the majority of the larval damage originated from Helicoverpa armigera larvae, while O. nubilalis larvae contributed significant damage only at a single plot. Fusarium verticillioides infection appeared only in a small portion (∼20–30%) of the insect damaged cobs. H. armigera and O. nubilalis larvae feeding on F. verticillioides mycelia can distribute its conidia with their fecal pellets. MON 810 maize showed 100% efficacy against O. nubilalis in the stem, but lower efficacy against O. nubilalis and H. armigera in maize ears. The ∼Cry1Ab toxin content of maize silk, the entry site of H. armigera, was lower than that in the leaves/stem/husk leaves of MON 810. Fusarium-infected MON 810 cobs are rarely found and only after larval damage by O. nubilalis. H. armigera larvae could not tolerate well F. verticillioides infected food and attempted to move out from the infected cobs. For further feeding they re-entered the maize ears through the 8–12 husk leaves, but in the case of the MON 810 variety, they usually could not reach the kernels. Apical damage on cobs resulted in only a minor (about one-tenth of the cob) decrease in yield.

Levels of mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species in genetically modified (GM) and near-isogenic maize, were determined using multi-analyte, microbead-based flow immunocytometry with fluorescence detection, for the parallel quantitative determination of fumonisin B1, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, T-2, ochratoxin A, and aflatoxin B1. Maize varieties included the genetic events MON 810 and DAS-59122-7, and their isogenic counterparts. Cobs were artificially infested by F. verticillioides and F. proliferatum conidia, and contained F. graminearum and F. sporotrichoides natural infestation. The production of fumonisin B1 and deoxynivalenol was substantially affected in GM maize lines: F. verticillioides, with the addition of F. graminearum and F. sporotrichoides, produced significantly lower levels of fumonisin B1 (~300 mg·kg−1) in DAS-59122-7 than in its isogenic line (~580 mg·kg−1), while F. proliferatum, in addition to F. graminearum and F. sporotrichoides, produced significantly higher levels of deoxynivalenol (~18 mg·kg−1) in MON 810 than in its isogenic line (~5 mg·kg−1). Fusarium verticillioides, with F. graminearum and F. sporotrichoides, produced lower amounts of deoxynivalenol and zearalenone than F. proliferatum, with F. graminearum and F. sporotrichoides. T-2 toxin production remained unchanged when considering the maize variety. The results demonstrate the utility of the Fungi-Plex™ quantitative flow immunocytometry method, applied for the high throughput parallel determination of the target mycotoxins.