Investigations into the occurrence of alkaloids in ergot and single sclerotia from the 2007 and 2008 harvests.

As a contribution to the occurrence of ergot alkaloids in ergot from German rye and triticale, samples from the 2007 and 2008 harvests were analyzed. Twelve alkaloids-six pairs of main alkaloids and their corresponding epimers-were determined in extracts prepared under alkaline conditions by HPLC with fluorescence detection without preceding purification. The total alkaloid content was found to be 0.03-0.18% in ergot from rye (n = 19) and 0.06-0.22% in ergot from triticale (n = 4), respectively. Furthermore, single sclerotia (n = 40) were investigated in terms of alkaloid content and distributional pattern. The main alkaloids in ergot were ergocristine, ergotamine and ergocornine, although the alkaloid composition was highly variable.