Occurrence of toxic hexadepsipeptides in preharvest maize ear rot infected by Fusarium poae in Poland.

Twenty-seven preharvest maize ears affected by Fusarium poae rot were selected in 1998 and 1999 in Poland and examined for the occurrence of toxic hexadepsipeptides: beauvericin, enniatin A, enniatin B and ennitian B1. The identification of F. poae was confirmed by sequence analysis of variable internal transcribed spacer regions and compared with NCBI gene bank DNA sequences. In 27 ears infected by F. poae were detected: BEA in 18 samples , enniatin A in nine samples, enniatin B in 15 samples and enniatin B1 in 12 samples. All 20 strains of F. poae produced beauvericin. Occurence and qunatification of enniatin A, enniatin B and enniatinB1 and their co-occurence with BEA in maize kernels is reported for the first time.