The role of wastewater treatment in reducing pollution of surface waters with zearalenone / Uloga pročišćavanja otpadnih voda u smanjenju onečišćenja površinskih voda zearalenonom

Abstract

Zearalenone (ZEA) is a mycotoxin produced by some Fusarium species in food and feed. The toxicity of ZEA and its metabolites is related to the chemical structure of the mycotoxin, which is similar to naturally occurring oestrogens. Currently, there is increasing awareness of the presence of fungi and their toxic metabolites in the aquatic environment. One of the sources of these compounds are the effluents from wastewater treatment plants. The average annual efficiency of zearalenone reduction in the Łęczyca plant in our three-year study was in the range from 51.35 to 69.70 %. The threeway analysis of variance (year, month, and kind of wastewater) shows that the main effects of all factors and all interactions between them were significant for zearalenone and dissolved organic carbon content. Our findings suggest that wastewater is not the main source of surface water pollution with zearalenone. Future research should investigate the means to reduce ZEA and its migration from the fields through prevention strategies such as breeding for crops, plant debris management (crop rotation, tillage), and/or chemical and biological control.

Research Progress of Safety of Zearalenone: A Review

“…Existing studies calculated the estimated daily intake (EDI) of ZEA in Europe and America based on local ZEA contamination levels and daily grain consumption. The result showed that the EDI for adults ranged between 0.8 and 25 ng/kg bw, and between 6 and 55 ng/kg bw for children [98,104]. The estimated ZEA exposure may be lower than the actual intake due to the fact that most detection methods cannot detect the modified and masked ZEA.…”

“…The estimated ZEA exposure may be lower than the actual intake due to the fact that most detection methods cannot detect the modified and masked ZEA. The modified form of ZEA was reported to be 1.5-fold higher than the unmodified ZEA in barley and 0.5-fold higher in oat and wheat [98]. However, population samples reflect the exposure level of ZEA more truthfully.…”

“…Other factors affect ZEA levels in crops. On the one hand, pre-harvest (e.g., farming rotations and weeding) and post-harvest (e.g., dehydration, fermentation, and hulling) practices affect the mycotoxin content in grains [90,98]. On the other hand, the crops' susceptibility to the Fusarium species differs.…”

Preparation, Characterization, and Antimicrobial Properties of Chitosan–Silver Nanocomposites Films Against Fish Pathogenic Bacteria and Fungi

“…Total inhibition of fungal growth/fungistatic activity was observed in both types of CAgNfs compared to controls. Antifungal/fungistatic activities of two CAgNfs have been tested with F. oxysporum, as it has been reported in fresh water systems [22] and its mycotoxin has been taken as an indicator for water pollutions [23]. Several studies have been reported the lack of measurable zone diameter in disc diffusion assay with several fungi including Fusarium [24].…”

Application of Wastewater-Based Epidemiology for Tracking Human Exposure to Deoxynivalenol and Enniatins

“…There have been several studies related to mycotoxin contamination of WWs. Most of them were aimed at the determination of mycotoxin content in different water and WW types [11,[13][14][15][16][17][18], but only a single study used the data obtained for assessing human exposure to mycotoxins by measuring specific biomarkers [11]. Within the study by Gracia-Lor et al (2020) [11], the concentration of mycotoxin biomarkers in raw WWs was determined and the daily intake of mycotoxins per person was calculated, taking into account the daily flow rate of WW and the number of inhabitants.…”