Mycoflora and mycotoxins natural occurrence in corn from entre rios province, Argentina.

Corn samples were collected in 1999 from three departments of Entre Réos province, Argentina, and were surveyed for mould contamination and natural occurrence ofFusarium mycotoxins, ochratoxin A and aflatoxins.Fusarium verticillioides was the most prevalent fungal species recorded at all departments. Zearalenone, deoxynivalenol and ochratoxin A were not found in any samples. Only one of the 52 corn samples analysed was contaminated with aflatoxin B1 (17 μg/kg). Fumonisin B1 was found in 58 % of samples (range of positive samples: 47- 3,347 μg/kg), fumonisin B2 in 33.0 % (range of positive samples: 23-537 μg/kg) and fumonisin B3 in 25.0 % (range of positive samples: 24-287 μg/kg) of them. This is the first report on the natural occurrence of mycotoxins in corn from Entre Ríos province, Argentina. Levels of fumonisins were lower than detected in other Argentinian provinces.