Aflatoxin production in three selected samples of triticale, wheat and rye grown in Argentina

Abstract

Little is known about mycotoxin contamination of triticale, a hybrid resulting from crossing wheat and rye. The purpose of the present work was to evaluate triticale as a substrate for aflatoxin accumulation in comparison withits parents. Aflatoxin (B1,B2,G1 and G2) accumulation curves were obtained for the threerates inoculated with Aspergillus parasiticus NRRL 2999 and incubated at 25ºC and water activity 0.925 for 10 weeks. Wheat and triticale were poor substrates for aflatoxin production. Rye was more prone than the other substrates to fast colonisation by A. parasiticusand accumulated larger aflatoxin quantities over the whole incubation period. The maximum aflatoxin concentration in rye (11840 ug/kg) was significantly larger (p<0.05) than those obtained in wheat (2150 ug/kg) and triticale (2850 ug/kg).