Toxins 2012, 4(10), 778-787; doi:10.3390/toxins4100778
Article

Occurrence and Distribution of 13 Trichothecene Toxins in Naturally Contaminated Maize Plants in Germany

Margit Schollenberger 1,* email, Hans-Martin Müller 1 email, Katrin Ernst 1 email, Sarah Sondermann 1 email, Melanie Liebscher 1 email, Claudia Schlecker 1 email, Gerald Wischer 1 email, Winfried Drochner 1 email, Karin Hartung 2 email and Hans-Peter Piepho 2 email
1 Institute of Animal Nutrition, University of Hohenheim, Emil-Wolff-Str. 10, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany 2 Bioinformatics Unit, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstraße 23, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 31 May 2012; in revised form: 19 September 2012 / Accepted: 20 September 2012 / Published: 28 September 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins in Food and Feed)
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Abstract: The objective of the present study was to monitor the occurrence and distribution of a spectrum of trichothecene toxins in different parts of maize plants. Therefore maize plants were sampled randomly from 13 fields in southwest Germany and the fractions kernels, cobs, husks, stalks, leaves and rudimentary ears were analyzed for eight A-type and five B-type trichothecenes. Each of the toxins was found in at least three of the total of 78 samples. The study revealed that both A-type and B-type trichothecenes may be present in all parts of the maize plant but may be unevenly distributed. For the contents of deoxynivalenol, 3- and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol, nivalenol, scirpentriol, 15-monoacetoxyscirpenol, HT-2 and T-2 toxin significant differences (p < 0.05) were found between different parts of the maize plants whereas no significant differences were observed for fusarenon-X, 4,15-diacetoxyscirpenol, neosolaniol, T-2 triol and T-2 tetraol. Up to twelve toxins co-occurring in one sample were detected. As a group B-type trichothecenes dominated over A-type trichothecenes concerning incidences and levels. Contamination was strongest with rudimentary ears based on incidence and mean and maximum contents; mean contents with few exceptions tended towards a higher level than in other fractions with significant (p < 0.05) differences compared to leaves for seven toxins.
Keywords: A-type and B-type trichothecenes; contamination pattern; distribution; maize; multitrichothecene contamination; fractions

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MDPI and ACS Style

Schollenberger, M.; Müller, H.-M.; Ernst, K.; Sondermann, S.; Liebscher, M.; Schlecker, C.; Wischer, G.; Drochner, W.; Hartung, K.; Piepho, H.-P. Occurrence and Distribution of 13 Trichothecene Toxins in Naturally Contaminated Maize Plants in Germany. Toxins 2012, 4, 778-787.

AMA Style

Schollenberger M, Müller H-M, Ernst K, Sondermann S, Liebscher M, Schlecker C, Wischer G, Drochner W, Hartung K, Piepho H-P. Occurrence and Distribution of 13 Trichothecene Toxins in Naturally Contaminated Maize Plants in Germany. Toxins. 2012; 4(10):778-787.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Schollenberger, Margit; Müller, Hans-Martin; Ernst, Katrin; Sondermann, Sarah; Liebscher, Melanie; Schlecker, Claudia; Wischer, Gerald; Drochner, Winfried; Hartung, Karin; Piepho, Hans-Peter. 2012. "Occurrence and Distribution of 13 Trichothecene Toxins in Naturally Contaminated Maize Plants in Germany." Toxins 4, no. 10: 778-787.

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