MYCOTOXIN CONTAMINATION OF MEADOW GRASSES IN EUROPEAN RUSSIA

• Main Authors: A.A. BURKIN, G.P. KONONENKO
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Редакция журнала "Сельскохозяйственная биология" 2015
• Subjects: meadow grasses; gramineous plants; pod-bearing plants; hay; mycotoxins; Leningradskaya; Roa; karelia*
• Online Access: http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/mycotoxin-contamination-of-meadow-grasses-in-european-russia; http://cyberleninka.ru/article_covers/16431789.png

A toxicity of plants eaten by animals at grazing land is shown to be complicated with various causes and clinical manifestations. In addition to phytotoxins and «infection» factors carried onto the plants by the insects (e.g., bacterial corynetoxins), the toxic metabolites of endophytic and epiphytic fungi are considered to play the significant role. Based on early understanding, the local risks for cattle, sheep and horses during grazing and stable periods were caused mainly by ergotism, myrothecioand fusariotoxicoses. Then, for a long time a mycotoxicological evaluation of local grass feeds was not carried out. To date, there is the only one study indicating differences between contaminations of the wild-growing gramineous plants and cultivated cereal crops (A.A. Burkin et al., 2010). The aim of the paper was to summarize our data of assaing 517 meadow grass samples from natural pastures and haying places in European Russia undertaken for the first time to determine contamination with mycotoxins. The spikes of fescue Festuca sp., couch grass Elytrigia repens (L.), timothy Phleum sp., and other locally occurring gramineous plants were selected in North Karelia, Tverskaya, Leningradskaya and Astrakhanskaya regions for July-October 2011. For summer and autumn 2014 collections the aboveground parts of gramineous plants and legumes were taken from Moskovskaya, Tverskaya, Astrakhanskaya regions and North Karelia. The average samples of the field sets of hay were obtained from the animal farms of Moskovskaya region from December 2013 up to April 2014. A multiple combined contamination of grassland gramineous plants and legumes by the mycotoxins was detected, particularly we have found the Fusarium fungi metabolites T-2 toxin (T-2), diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEN), fumonisins (FUM), the Alternaria metabolite alternariol (AOL), the Myrothecium metabolite roridin A (RoA), the «storage fungi» metabolites aflatoxin B1 (AB1), sterigmatocystin (STE), cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), emodin (EMO), ochratoxin A (OA), citrinin (CIT), mycophenolic acid (MPA), PR-toxin (PR), and also the ergot alkaloids (EA). The common trend to changing the component composition and content of mycotoxins was revealed for collected samples of gramineous plants from Moskovskaya and Tverskaya regions (June-September) such as reed grass Calamagrostis sp., crested dog’s tail Cynosurus cristatus L., sweet vernal grass Anthoxanthum odoratum L., cock’s foot Dactylis glomerata L., bromegrass Bromus sp., bluegrass Poa sp., oats Avena sativa L., fescue Festuca sp., bentgrass Agrostis sp., couch grass Elytrigia repens (L.), timothy Phleum sp., bristly foxtail grass Setaria sp. The complex of all examined mycotoxins was found to be formed in plants during early growing period (June). Moreover, AOL, STE, CPA and EMO were detected almost in all locations (80-98 % of samples), whereas DAS, EA, AB1, OA, STE and MPA occurred rarely (50-70 %). This period, in contrast to subsequent ones, was characterized by low level of T-2 ( 40 μg/kg), ZEN ( 56 μg/kg), EA ( 64 μg/kg), AOL ( 200 μg/kg) and EMO ( 315 μg/kg) and its negligible (no more than 10-fold) variations in all mycotoxins with the exception of RoA. In the second collection of samples (July) AOL and EMO remained the significant contaminants (89 and 100 %) with an increased incidence of T-2, DON, ZEN and a wider range of the fusariotoxins, CPA and EA amounts. During continued vegetation (August-September) there were stable high indices of prevalence and accumulation of T-2 (up to 795 μg/kg), AOL (up to 10000 μg/kg), EMO (up to 5620 μg/kg), a decreasing incidence of AB1, CPA, OA, CIT, MPA, PR, DAS, DON, FUM, ZEN fusariotoxins, and super high level of ZEN (up to 5750 μg/kg) occurred occasionally. The peculiarities of contamination of the legumes, such as meadow clover Trifolium pratense L., white clover Trifolium repens L., narrow-leaved vetch Vicia sp., wood vetch Vicia sylvatica L., meadow peavine Lathyrus pratensis L., the meadow grasses and the hay of various botanic compositions are discussed. For the first time a contamination of herbage with STE has been shown. The data obtained on RoA are especially important due to limited information of its prevalence.