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Wheat grains usually carry a variety of moulds from the field (e.g., various Fusarium and Alternaria species) and also contain some xerophilic storage moulds. Determination of the mycological quality of wheat is a crucial issue since wheat is extensively used as food and animal feed and because some of the moulds are capable of producing toxic secondary metabolites, such as mycotoxins. Twenty-one samples of wheat, taken from a crop in 2020, from the northwest part of Croatia were analyzed for the presence of mycotoxigenic moulds before and after a six months storage period. Each time moulds were isolated by the direct planting method and identified by the traditional and molecular methods. The results show that before storage predominant mycotoxigenic moulds were Alternaria species (alternaria mycotoxines, followed by Penicillium citrinum (citrinin), Fusarium species (trichotecenes, zearalenon), and Aspergillus flavus (aflatoxin). Mycotoxigenic moulds were islolated in 18 out of 21 samples. After six months of storage the predominant mycotoxigenic moulds were Fusarium spp, Alternaria spp, and Penicillium citrinum in 10 out of 21 samples. It can be concluded that the number of mycotoxigenic moulds decreases during storage, however, this does not mean that if there are no producers of mycotoxins present, there will be no mycotoxins. It is important to bear in mind the mycotoxins produced by the mould could have died during storage. |
