Impact of Climate Changes on the Natural Prevalence of Fusarium Mycotoxins in Maize Harvested in Serbia and Croatia

Abstract

Ongoing climate change may affect the susceptibility of plants to attacks by pathogenic, mostly mycotoxigenic fungi with a consequent increase in the presence of mycotoxins. Fusarium fungi represent one of the most important producers of mycotoxins, and are also important pathogens of agricultural crops. Therefore, the main aim of the study was to estimate the impact of weather parameters on the natural occurrence of Fusarium mycotoxins, such as deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisins B1 and B2 (FUMs), zearalenone (ZEN), T-2, and HT-2 toxins (T-2/HT-2) in maize samples harvested from two neighboring countries, Serbia and Croatia, during a four-year production period (2018–2021). The frequency and contamination level of examined Fusarium mycotoxins varied by maize year of production and could be linked to weather conditions per investigated country. Among them, FUMs were found to be the most common contaminants (84–100%) of maize in both Serbia and Croatia. Additionally, a critical assessment of Fusarium mycotoxins occurrence in the last 10 years (2012–2021), for both Serbia and Croatia, was done. Results pointed out the highest contamination of maize from 2014, especially with DON and ZEN, in connection to extreme levels of precipitation observed in both Serbia and Croatia, whereas FUMs occurred with high prevalence from each of the ten investigated years.