The influence of climate conditions on the occurrence of deoxynivalenol in maize harvested in Serbia during 2013–2015

Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of climate conditions on deoxynivalenol (DON) content in 1800 maize samples collected from main maize growing regions in Serbia during a period of three years. DON concentration was determined by validated direct competitive Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method. Presence of DON in maize samples from 2013, 2014 and 2015 years was detected in 2.5%, 96.0% and 15.5% of samples in the concentration range of 260.1–1388 μg/kg, 260.4–9050 μg/kg and 252.3–6280 μg/kg, respectively. The obtained results indicate that different weather conditions recorded in examined years had a significant influence on DON occurrence in maize. Extremely rainy weather conditions in maize growing season 2014 were favourable for DON production and even 292 (48.3%) samples were unsuitable for human consumption, since DON concentrations were greater than 1750 μg/kg. However, lack of rainfall and higher air temperatures during the years 2013 and 2015 contributed to lower contamination frequency of DON. These findings confirmed that maize should be continuously monitored in order to protect human and animal population against the risk of DON contamination. Furthermore, monitoring of DON occurrence in maize from Serbia is required in order to collect data which is needed for establishing a Serbian as well as European database.