Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a fungal disease causing substantial yield and quality losses in barley. Genetic variation in deoxynivalenol (DON) content and and important yield traits in response to FHB were studied in 44 spring barley cultivars for two years following artificial inoculation with Fusarium culmorum under field conditions. The analysis of variance revealed that the largest effect on DON content and simultaneously on the reduction of thousand grain weight and grain weight per spike were due to the environmental conditions of the year, while the visual disease symptoms depended on the cultivars to a larger extent. All these traits were significantly interrelated. The most resistant cultivars Murasski mochi, Nordic, Krasnodarskij 35, Krasnodarskij 95, Nordus, and Usurijskij 8, together with the resistant check Chevron, showed the lowest DON content, the lowest expression of disease symptoms and the lowest reduction of TGW and GWS. However, most spring barley cultivars registered in the Czech Republic in recent years expressed susceptibility or medium resistance and were considerably affected by the disease. This increases the importance of breeding barley for resistance to FHB.

A complex of Fusarium spp. causes Fusarium head blight (FHB) on wheat and also on barley. Infection with FHB results not only in yield loss, but also causes depreciation of the harvested product due to the accumulation of toxins such as deoxynivalenol produced by Fusarium spp. The flowering time is a very susceptible period for primary infection. One reason might be that during this period spores can get into the opened wheat florets where they may later cause infection. Initial symptoms of infection of a wheat ear are visible whitening and drying of individual spikelets or entire parts of the ear. If the florets became infected shortly after blooming, grains are often not formed, while other infected spikelets have grains with various deformities, shrunken and with pink-white coloration (Klem & Tvarůžek 2005). The main aim of experiments was detection of Fusarium species on wheat grains by using of the PCR methods. Abstract Nedělník J., Moravcová H., Hajšlová J., Lancová K., Váňová M., Salava J. (2007): Fusarium spp. in wheat grain in the Czech Republic analysed by PCR method. Plant Protect. Sci., 43: 135-137. The frequency of occurrence of four Fusarium spp. on wheat in the Moravia region, Czech Republic, was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Grain samples were collected during 2003-2006 at grain purchase centres. The dominant species was F. graminearum, which was recorded in all samples of the first 3 years of the study and in 88% of them in 2006. The previously more frequent F. culmorum was detected in 100% of the samples only in 2005; in the preceding two years the frequency of its detection was lower, 84% and 60%, and in 2006 it was detected in 55% of the samples. Fusarium avenaceum had a very low occurrence in the years 2003-2004, but in 2005 it was recorded in 100% of the samples. In 2006 it was the opposite-total absence of this species. A quite different situation was found in the occurrence of the fourth species-F. poae. In the years 2005 and 2006 it was only detected in 10%, resp. 2% of the samples, compared to markedly higher occurrences in the previous years. A comparison of the current weather development with the long-term mean at the Troubsko locality suggests that years with a relatively long, wet and cold start of the growing season and warmer end of vegetation (late May-July) will favour F. graminearum.

Non-invasive determination of deoxynivalenol (DON) still presents a challenging problem. Therefore, the present study was aimed at a rapid determination of DON in whole wheat grain by means of FT-NIR spectroscopy, with a wide range of concentrations for potential applications in breeding programs and common systems of quality management using partial least square calibration (PLS) and discriminant analysis technique (DA). Using a set of artificially infected wheat samples with a known content of DON, four PLS models with different concentration range were created. The broadest model predicting DON in the concentration range of 0-90 mg/kg possessed the highest correlation coefficients of calibration and cross validation (0.94 and 0.88); but also possessed the highest prediction errors (SEP = 6.23 mg/kg). Thus the subsequent combination of DA as the wide range predictive model and the low-range PLS model was used. This technique gave more precise results in the samples with lower DON concentrations -below 30 mg/kg (SEP = 2.35 mg/kg), when compared to the most wide-range PLS model (SEP = 5.95 mg/kg). Such technique enables to estimate DON content in collections of artificially infected wheat plants in Fusarium resistance breeding experiments.

A critical assessment of three previously published indirect methods based on acidic hydrolysis using superacids for the determination of “free” and “total” deoxynivalenol (DON) was carried out. The modified mycotoxins DON-3-glucoside (D3G), 3-acetyl-DON (3ADON), and 15-acetyl-DON (15ADON) were chosen as model analytes. The initial experiments focused on the stability/degradation of DON under hydrolytic conditions and the ability to release DON from the modified forms. Acidic conditions that were capable of cleaving D3G, 3ADON, and 15ADON to DON were not found, raising doubts over the efficacy of previously published indirect methods for total DON determination. Validation of these indirect methods for wheat, maize, and barley using UHPLC-MS/MS was performed in order to test the accuracy of the generated results. Validation data for DON, D3G, 3ADON, and 15ADON in nonhydrolyzed and hydrolyzed matrices were obtained. Under the tested conditions, DON was not released from D3G, 3ADON, or 15ADON after hydrolysis and thus none of the published methods were able to cleave the modified forms of DON. In addition to acids, alkaline hydrolysis with KOH for an extended time and at elevated temperatures was also tested. 3ADON and 15ADON were cleaved under the alkaline pH caused by the addition of KOH or aqueous K2CO3 to “neutralize” the acidic sample extracts in the published studies. The published additional DON increase after hydrolysis may have been caused by huge differences in matrix effects and the recovery of DON in nonhydrolyzed and hydrolyzed matrices as well as by the alkaline cleavage of 3ADON or 15ADON after the neutralization of hydrolyzed extracts.

Microgreens from common and tartary buckwheat genotypes were evaluated for total flavonoid content (rutin, quercetine and kaempferol separately), bound phenolic acids content, carotenoids and α-tocopherol content and antioxidant activity. The results have shown that in common and tartary buckwheat microgreens antioxidant activity was found. High level of flavonoids, carotenoids, and α-tocopherol was detected as well. Higher amount of flavonoids was found out in tartary buckwheat microgreens. No significant differences were detected between common and tartary buckwheat microgreens in content of phenolic acids. Microgreens of both common and tartary buckwheat represent potential nutritional sources for alternative vegetable in the Czech Republic.