SURVEY OF FUMONISIN PRODUCTION BY FUSARIUM ISOLATED FROM CEREALS IN EUROPE

Strains of Fusarium isolated from corn, sorghum, wheat, barley, and mi xed feed from Italy, Spain, Poland, and France were tested for the pro duction of fumonisins B-1 and B-2 (FB1 and FB2) in corn cultures. All strains of F: moniliforme(l from France, 10 from Italy, 15 from Poland , and 17 from Spain) and the one tested strain of F: proliferatum prod uced fumonisins in amounts scattered within a wide range of concentrat ions (0.7-4100 mu g FB1/g). None or insignificant amounts of FB1 were detected in cultures of 11 F: subglutinans strains (<0.5 mu g/g for 5 of 11 strains) or in cultures of 3 strains of Fusarium spp. not belong ing to Liseola. FB2 was produced by all but one of the strains that pr oduced FB1, and the FB2/FB1 ratio ranged from 0.1 to 0.37 (average, 0. 22). The highest production of fumonisin was obtained with isolates fr om corn (average, 1259 mu g FB1/g), followed by isolates from wheat (a verage, 769 mu g FB1/g) and barley (average, 320 mu g FB1/g). The prod uction of fumonisins by isolates from sorghum was 2 orders of magnitud e lower than corn. These results support data reported for similar sur veys in geographical areas other than Europe. In particular, data indi cate a situation in Europe that is very similar to North America in re spect to fumonisin production by different Fusarium species (F: monili forme and F: subglutinans) isolated from different substrates (corn an d sorghum).