OCCURRENCE OF FUSARIUM TOXINS IN BARLEY HARVESTED DURING 5 YEARS IN AN AREA OF SOUTHWEST GERMANY

A total of 44, 40, 47, 51, and 58 barley samples for feed use were col lected randomly after the 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992 crops, resp ectively, from farms located in an area of southwest Germany. The sum of precipitation from May to September was high in 1987 and markedly l ower in 1989-1992. Deoxynivalenol, 3-. and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol, ni valenol, fusarenon-X, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin and diacetxyscirpenol were determined by gas chromatography with mass selective detection (GC-MS ), zearalenone,alpha- and beta-zearalenol by GC-MS or by HPLC. Deoxyni valenol was the major toxin with incidences at 71-98% and mean content s at 42-400 mu g/kg. In contrast, incidences of zearalenone, 3-acetyld eoxynivalenol, nivalenol, HT-2 toxin, and T-2 toxin were at 7-68, 7-48 , 11-41, 0-9, and 2-29%, respectively; with mean contents at 3-146 mu g/kg. alpha- and beta-zearalenol and diacetoxyscirpenol were not detec ted in any sample. 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol and fusarenon-X were assaye d in samples from 1987, 1991 and 1992. 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol was det ected in 30, 0 and 2% of samples, respectively, with an average conten t of positive samples at 8 and 4 mu g/kg, fusarenon-X was not detected . Over the years, incidences and levels of toxins remained constant, d ecreased or increased. The correlation between the occurrence of toxin s and level of precipitation is discussed.