A survey was made of wheat and barley in Japan for the occurrence of toxigenic strains of Fusarium and of mycotoxins produced in culture by these strains.
The following 11 species of Fusarium were found: F. acuminatum, F. avenaceum, F. equiseti, F. graminearum, F. moniliforme, F. oxysporum, F. poae, F. semitectum, F. solani, F. sorotrichioides, and F. tricinctum. The species most commonly isolated from barley grain was F. graimnearum while F. equiseti was consistently isolated from barley. The predominant species in wheat grain was F. poae while F. graminearum, F. avenaceum, and F. oxysporum were also isolated frequently.
Cultures on autoclaved rice of all the Fusarium strains were analyzed for the presence of trichothecene-mycotoxins and zearalenone. The following trichothecenes were detected in the strains examined: Nivalenol and deoxynivalenol in F. graminearum; diacetoxyscirpenol, neosolaniol and nivalenol in F. equiseti and F. semitectum: T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, diacetoxyscirpenol and neosolaniol in F. acuminatum and F. sporotrichioides.
Culture material of all the strains were assayed for toxicity by injection to 4-day-old chicken embryo. Some strains of F. acuminatum, F. sporotrichioides, F. equiseti and F. semitectum proved to be acutely toxic to chicken embryo. One-hundred isolates of Fusarium were tested for their ability to produce zearalenone on autoclaved rice. The following species produced zearalenone: F. graminearum, F. equiseti and F. semitectum.
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