Contamination of wheat and maize grains by Fusarium species

Fusarium head blight (FHB) and Fusarium ear rot (FER) are very important diseases in all wheat and maize grown areas all over the world. Several Fusarium species may be associated with this diseases, including species that are potentially toxigenic. A total of 1632 wheat grain samples and 937 maize grain samples were collected and analyzed from 1996 to 2006. Nine Fusarium species were isolated from wheat grains and six from maize grains. The most frequent species on wheat grains was Fusarium graminearum (49.17%) and the most frequent species on maize grains was Fusarium verticillioides (43.75%).