Occurrence and toxigenicity of Fusarium moniliforme from freshly harvested maize ears with special references to fumonisin production in Egypt.

Using the seed-plate technique, 18 different isolates of Fusarium moniliforme were isolated on pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) agar medium from 18 samples of a local variety of corn collected from locations in Minia Governorate. The isolates of F. moniliforme were screened for their ability to produce fumonisins on polished rice grains using the solid state fermentation technique. Based on thin layer chromatographic (TLC) analyses using silica gel plates, 14 of the 18 isolates tested produced FB1 and FB2 with Rf (0.17) and (0.24), respectively. Concentration of FB1 was estimated using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Production of FB1 by the 14 isolates of F. moniliforme tested ranged from 69 to 4495 ppm indicating that mouldy corn may represent a health hazard to consumers.