FERTILITY OF FUSARIUM-MONILIFORME FROM MAIZE AND SORGHUM RELATED TO FUMONISIN PRODUCTION IN ITALY

Forty-three strains of Fusarium moniliforme isolated from infected mai ze and sorghum plants in Italy were assayed for their ability to produ ce fertile crosses with ''A'' and ''F'' mating population tester strai ns, in relation to their ability to produce fumonisins on maize substr ate. Most of the strains isolated from maize (ear and stalk rot and ma ize-based feed), producing fumonisin B-1 (FB1) and B-2 (FB2) (up to 4, 100 and 855 mg/kg, respectively), belonged to the ''A'' mating populat ion. All of the strains isolated from sorghum belonged to the ''F'' ma ting population and produced little or no FB1 and FB2. This is the fir st report of the occurrence of mating population ''F'' in Europe. Our data on strains from Italy are consistent with previous studies from t he United States that found significant differences in sexual fertilit y and fumonisin production between strains from maize and sorghum.