AUTHOR=Giorni Paola , Bertuzzi Terenzio , Battilani Paola 

TITLE=Impact of Fungi Co-occurrence on Mycotoxin Contamination in Maize During the Growing Season

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01265

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.01265

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Maize is a possible host of many fungi, some of them able to produce different mycotoxins. Few studies exist on co-occurring fungi and resulting multi-mycotoxin contamination in field; for this reason, in field trials were conducted in two consecutive years to verify fungal incidence and mycotoxin production in the case of the co-occurrence of the three main mycotoxigenic fungi of maize in Italy: <italic>Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium verticillioides</italic>, and <italic>Fusarium graminearum</italic> able to produce, respectively, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), fumonisins (FBs), and deoxynivalenol (DON). Artificial inoculation was done after silk emergence of maize and samples were collected with a 2 week schedule up to harvest time (four samplings). Fungal interaction resulted as playing a role for both fungal incidence and mycotoxins production, as did weather conditions too. Main interactions were noted between <italic>A. flavus</italic> and <italic>F. verticillioides</italic>, and between <italic>F. verticillioides</italic> and <italic>F. graminearum</italic>. In particular, as a result of fungal co-occurrence, AFB1 resulted stimulated by <italic>F. graminearum</italic> presence while no effects were noted in FBs and DON in case of <italic>F. verticillioides</italic>–<italic>F. graminearum</italic> co-occurrence. Interestingly, the co-presence of <italic>A. flavus</italic> significantly reduced both FB and DON production.</p>