Survey of fumonisin production by Fusarium isolated from cereals in Europe.

Strains of Fusarium isolated from corn, sorghum, wheat, barley, and mixed feed from Italy, Spain, Poland, and France were tested for the production of fumonisins B1 and B2 (FB1 and FB2) in corn cultures. All strains of F. moniliforme (1 from France, 10 from Italy, 15 from Poland, and 17 from Spain) and the one tested strain of F. proliferatum produced fumonisins in amounts scattered within a wide range of concentrations (0.7-4100 micrograms FB1/g). None or insignificant amounts of FB1 were detected in cultures of 11 F. subglutinans strains (< 0.5 microgram/g for 5 of 11 strains) or in cultures of 3 strains of Fusarium spp. not belonging to Liseola. FB2 was produced by all but one of the strains that produced 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 from corn (average, 1259 micrograms FB1/g), followed by isolates from wheat (average, 769 micrograms FB1/g) and barley (average, 320 micrograms FB1/g). The production of fumonisins by isolates from sorghum was 2 orders of magnitude lower than corn. These results support data reported for similar surveys in geographical areas other than Europe. In particular, data indicate a situation in Europe that is very similar to North America in respect to fumonisin production by different Fusarium species (F. moniliforme and F. subglutinans) isolated from different substrates (corn and sorghum).