Fusarium and Alternaria Toxins in Italian Heritage Common Wheat: Influence of Varieties and Alkylresorcinol Content

TL;DR

This study compares mycotoxin contamination in 40 heritage wheat varieties, finding some are consistently less susceptible to Fusarium and Alternaria toxins.

Contribution

The study identifies heritage wheat varieties with consistently low mycotoxin levels and highlights variable susceptibility influenced by weather.

Findings

Heritage wheat varieties showed mycotoxin contamination levels similar to modern cultivars.

Four varieties consistently had low deoxynivalenol and Alternaria toxin levels.

Alkylresorcinol content weakly correlated with mycotoxin susceptibility in heritage wheat.

Abstract

Forty heritage common wheat varieties were cultivated in four experimental fields over two consecutive years, to evaluate their susceptibility to Fusarium and Alternaria fungi and the associated mycotoxins. Marked differences in meteorological conditions between the two years (2023 and 2024) significantly influenced mycotoxin occurrence and impact. Overall, heritage varieties exhibited mycotoxin contamination comparable to those reported for modern wheat cultivars grown in nearby areas; interestingly, an opposite trend was observed among trichothecenes and Alternaria toxins. Comparing the varieties with each other, very different contamination levels for both mycotoxin groups were observed; some varieties were consistently susceptible across both years, others only in 2024, likely due to frequent precipitations. However, four varieties consistently displayed low levels of both deoxynivalenol and Alternaria toxins. Weak correlations among DON and alkylresorcinol ratios were found, showing that, considering only these heritage wheat varieties, alkylresorcinol content could not always predict the susceptibility to mycotoxin contamination.

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