Influence of nitrogen fertilization on deoxynivalenol contamination of winter wheat - experimental field trials and evaluation of analytical methods.

Experimental field trials were carried out to study the influence of N-fertilization on deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination of winter wheat.Within four years of investigation, no definite effect of mineral N-input at dosages varying between 0 and 240 kg N/ha could be observed on DON concentration in wheat grain. The main factors affecting DON contamination of wheat were theFusarium infection pressure, the weather conditions and the susceptibility of the wheat varieties againstFusarium head blight.DON was analyzed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and, for comparison, some of the positive samples were additionally analyzed with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). There was a good correlation between the ELISA and the HPLC results for DON concentration in wheat.