RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FUSARIUM INFESTATION OF BARLEY AND THE GUSHING POTENTIAL OF MALT

Fifty barley samples, displaying a range of 0 to 100% kernels infested with Fusarium, were collected in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minn esota during the harvest of 1994, Samples were micromalted, and the le vels of the fungal metabolites, deoxynivalenol and ergosterol, were de termined, Fusarium infestation and the levels of fungal metabolites we re evaluated as predictors of gushing in laboratory trials. Malt sampl es which were infested with Fusarium or contaminated with the fungal m etabolites exhibited a propensity to gush, However, only the levels of deoxynivalenol and ergosterol were found to be strongly correlated wi th the actual amount of gushing observed, This suggests that their pro duction may parallel that of the component which actual causes gushing , and that screening barley and malt for these metabolites, may offer a means of reducing gushing problems in the brewery. Determination of deoxynivalenol is rapid, when it is present, and necessary because of food safety and malt quality concerns.