OCCURRENCE OF DEOXYNIVALENOL (DON), 3-ACETYL-DON, ZEARALENONE, AND ERGOSTEROL IN WINTER RYE INOCULATED WITH FUSARIUM-CULMORUM

To investigate the occurrence of Fusarium culmorum mycotoxins and ergo sterol (ERG) in winter rye, 29 single-cross hybrids were artificially inoculated at anthesis in 1992. Single-cross hybrids revealed a signif icant genotypic differentiation for head blight rating and relative gr ain-weight per spike. Deoxynivalenol (DON) content ranged from 0.72 to 28.0 mg kg(-1) (average 10.8 mg kg(-1)); 3-acetyl DON (3-Ac DON) rang ed from 0.1 to 3.4 mg kg(-1) (average 1.2 mg kg(-1)); the two were clo sely correlated (r=0.79, P=0.01). Correlation coefficients between hea d blight rating or relative grain-weight per spike and DON or 3-Ac DON content were nonsignificant (r=0.34-0.36). For a subset of 10 single- cross hybrids, the proportion of Fusarium-damaged kernels was closely correlated to relative grain-weight per spike (r=-0.93, P=0.01), but s howed nonsignificant correlations to the DON and 3-Ac DON contents (r= 0.45-0.60). For the other 19 single-cross hybrids, zearalenone (ZEA) a nd ERG contents ranged from 0.02 to 0.15 mg kg(-1) (average 0.07 mg kg (-1)) and 42.9 to 135.4 mg kg(-1) (average 84.5 mg kg(-1)), respective ly. ERG content was significantly correlated with relative grain-weigh t per spike (r=-0.52, P=0.05), and with DON, 3-Ac DON, and ZEA content s (r= 0.57-0.79). ERG-DON ratios varied between 3.6 and 14.4. Winter r ye artificially inoculated with F. culmorum accumulated DON, 3-Ac DON in high amounts with considerable differentiation among 29 single-cros s hybrids.