Impact of Wheat Crop Management on Co-occurrence of Group B Trichothecenes: Crop Practices Influencing DON and Derivatives in Wheat

Profiles of deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyl-DON (3-ADON), 15-acetyl-DON (15-ADON), DON-3-glucoside (DON-3G), and nivalenol (NIV) were evaluated in wheat grown in an experimental field under different agronomic conditions regarding their roles in co-contamination with group B trichothecenes (TCTBs). For three years in southwestern Brazil, a susceptible and moderately resistant cultivar was cultivated in irrigated and rainfed systems. A randomized complete block design was carried out to evaluate the effects of the treatments: T1 (fungicide + potassium silicate (KS)), T2 (fungicide), T3 (KS), and T4 (control) on the TCTBs profile that was determined by the validated QuECHERS-HPLC-PAD method. Co-contamination occurred in 79.2% of the samples and the highest level for 15-ADON (1640 μg/kg). In 20 samples, the sum of TCTBs was above the maximum tolerable limit (MTL) for DON (1000 μg/kg). Samples from T1 and T3 had lower contamination levels. It is advisable to consider KS fertilization and include DON forms in MTL to reduce contamination risk.