Co-Occurrence of Regulated and Emerging Mycotoxins in Corn Silage: Relationships with Fermentation Quality and Bacterial Communities

• Main Authors: Antonio Gallo, Francesca Ghilardelli, Alberto Stanislao Atzori, Severino Zara, Barbara Novak, Johannes Faas, Francesco Fancello
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: Toxins
• Subjects: forage; mold; dairy cow; milk
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/13/3/232

Sixty-four corn silages were characterized for chemicals, bacterial community, and concentrations of several fungal metabolites. Silages were grouped in five clusters, based on detected mycotoxins, and they were characterized for being contaminated by (1) low levels of <i>Aspergillus</i>- and <i>Penicillium</i>-mycotoxins; (2) low levels of fumonisins and other <i>Fusarium</i>-mycotoxins; (3) high levels of <i>Aspergillus</i>-mycotoxins; (4) high levels of non-regulated <i>Fusarium</i>-mycotoxins; (5) high levels of fumonisins and their metabolites. Altersetin was detected in clusters 1, 3, and 5. Rugulusovin or brevianamide F were detected in several samples, with the highest concentration in cluster 3. Emodin was detected in more than 50.0% of samples of clusters 1, 3 and 5, respectively. Kojic acid occurred mainly in clusters 1 and 2 at very low concentrations. Regarding <i>Fusarium</i> mycotoxins, high occurrences were observed for FB3, FB4, FA1, whereas the average concentrations of FB6 and FA2 were lower than 12.4 µg/kg dry matter. Emerging <i>Fusarium</i>-produced mycotoxins, such as siccanol, moniliformin, equisetin, epiequisetin and bikaverin were detected in the majority of analyzed corn silages. Pestalotin, oxaline, phenopirrozin and questiomycin A were detected at high incidences. Concluding, this work highlighted that corn silages could be contaminated by a high number of regulated and emerging mycotoxins.