[Occurrence of Fusarium strains and their mycotoxins in corn silage. 7. Formation of deoxynivalenol (DON) in a silage corn plot artificially inoculated with Fusarium culmorum and the effect of silaging on the stability of the DON formed].

The formation of deoxynivalenol in a maize plot inoculated with Fusarium culmorum was studied over a growing season. Already three weeks after inoculation 4.9 mg/kg of DON were measured in the infected ears. The toxin concentration increased continuously up to harvest after eight weeks to a value of 261 mg/kg. Ensilage experiments in laboratory scale silos have shown that the DON content of naturally contaminated corn-cob-mix was not reduced during the ensilage process. It was concluded that infection of maize plants by toxin-producing Fusarium species followed by DON production in the field seems to be the most probable way of contamination of maize silage with this mycotoxin.